Daily Human Digest
Every day, the staff of the Genetic Literacy Project scours the Web for stories on a range of human genetics issues, including gene editing, regulations and bioethics, gene therapy, epigenetics, personal genomics, evolution, ancestry and artificial intelligence. We publish excerpts of those stories and encourage our readers to visit the original publications for the complete stories.
Former IVF baby weighs in on three-parent IVF
I have my parents, and biotechnology, to thank for bringing me into this world; I was an IVF baby. Given this ...
Ethnicity might determine the bacteria in your mouth
Fingerprints are one of, if not the only things unique to each and every individual. For this reason, it makes ...
Promise and peril of synthetic biology
Work in the field of synthetic biology creates a dual use ethical dilemma--the techniques that help us learn to cure ...
Will the public still fear GMOs in 100 years?
Innovations like aviation and vaccines have been huge contributions to modern society, despite initial public opposition. The same could be ...
Faces are sculpted by ‘junk DNA’
Researchers have started to figure out how DNA fine-tunes faces. In experiments on mice, they have identified thousands of regions ...
Dogs (and humans) might have some of their older sibling’s cells
Here's a mystery: A golden retriever gives birth to a litter of puppies. It's not her first birth, and something's ...
Genes may dictate which microbes thrive on your body
Scouring the genomes and body-wide microbial communities of 93 people, researchers have discovered a link between the composition of the ...
Study uses herpes virus to track human migration across the globe
The genomic analysis of different strains of the herpes virus reveals migration patterns of early humans ...
Mysteries of autism and schizophrenia unlocked by new cell study techniques
When Feng Zhang was in graduate school, he discovered that the tools for splicing new genes into living cells were ...
Rain keeps giraffe species from interbreeding in Kenya
We tend to think of giraffes as a single species, but in Kenya not one but three types of giraffe ...
Dog cloning to arrive in Britain
One British owner will be offered a genetic replica of their dog for free as part of the UK launch ...
“Jumping DNA” explains why humans are less genetically diverse than chimps
Our genome isn’t static; some of it can move about. We’re loaded with stretches of DNA that can copy themselves ...
Cuckold alert! Who’s your daddy? Probably your daddy, says DNA paternity study
Despite the popularity of paternity tests and the guest lineup of the "Maury Povich" show, most men are not being ...
DNA tests prove Dublin blonde-haired Roma girl taken by police from parents is part of family
DNA tests have proved that a seven-year-old girl taken from a Roma family in Dublin on Monday is their daughter. The ...
Social insects can’t recognize their kin, and that’s good for the group
W.D. Hamilton pointed out, in an article that revolutionized the study of social evolution, that you can pass on genes ...
Genetic variation alters efficacy of antidepressant
Long-term complications after heart surgery, which can affect memory and thinking, appear to be linked to particular genes. It is ...
Can genetics make weight gain inevitable for some?
The greatest gift I gave my children was my husband's genes. I'm not the only one who thinks that - ...
Craig Venter: “Hysteria and misinformation” spread fears about posting an individual’s genome
When Craig Venter published the complete sequence of his genome in PLOS Biology in 2007, in some ways, it was old news. Though ...
New gene therapy company launches
A new biotechnology company will take over human trials of two gene therapies that could offer one-time treatments for a ...
Giant pandas’ genetic diversity helps them adapt to environmental change
Despite the dwindling number of giant pandas, researchers think the species has more genetic diversity than some other endangered animals ...
Physical cues nudge mature cells back into an embryonic-like state
Bioengineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have shown that physical cues can replace certain chemicals when nudging mature cells ...
Kyoto researchers develop DNA software that can halt fish fraud
A group of researchers at Kyoto University has developed DNA barcoding software that can prevent the fraudulent mislabeling of farm ...
Test-tube baby boom: 5 million births and climbing
The world's population of so-called test-tube babies is booming, with half of the estimated 5 million children born through assisted ...
Westen Australian authorities allow first genetic screenings of embryos
For the first time, WA health authorities have allowed embryos to be screened to reduce the chance of a high-risk ...
3d cell culturing helps scientists investigate the gene expression associated with hair loss
Scientists have successfully grown new hair follicles from the skin cells of balding men. While the research team hasn’t yet ...
Do criminal DNA databases go too far?
When the state of New York expanded its DNA database last year, I didn’t give it much thought. After all, ...
Cancer cells evolve to outwit body defenses
Cancer is a disease of information, in which a cell becomes reprogrammed into a precision killing machine. In the consensus ...
