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.
Abuse, adoption and epigenetics
A recent Guardian article brought to light the harrowing circumstances of parents of adopted children who were left to confront major behavioral problems ...
The milk revolution and the genetics of lactose tolerance
During the most recent ice age, milk was essentially a toxin to adults because — unlike children — they could ...
Researchers work to understand genetic architecture of schizophrenia in prenatal brains
Researchers have reverse-engineered the outlines of a disrupted prenatal gene network in schizophrenia, by tracing spontaneous mutations to where and ...
Jurassic Park and the race for ancient DNA
In the 1990's rush to find ancient DNA (aDNA) trapped in amber, palaeontologists destroyed priceless fossils ...
Cloud-based genomics: Will the Internet create GM super-oranges?
Farmers are hacking their operations with robots, sensors, drones, and good-old circuit boards, but that’s merely a first step. Thanks ...
Researchers say Y chromosome traces back to the time of Mitochondrial Eve or before
The largest analyses to date of the human Y chromosome suggest that modern men can trace their family tree further ...
Urine stem cells used to create teeth
In mice, a new system of tissue culture has allowed researchers to grow the stem cells, generated from urine, into ...
Artificial human ear grown in lab
US scientists say they have moved a step closer to being able to grow a complete human ear from a ...
Exercise causes epigenetic changes
Exercise promotes health, reducing most people’s risks of developing diabetes and growing obese. But just how, at a cellular level, ...
Gene patent ruling leaves unanswered questions
A seemingly decisive Supreme Court ruling against gene patents in June left a lot of issues unsettled, and the industry ...
Why does Myriad think it can win BRCA gene lawsuits?
Earlier this month, Myriad Genetics filed patent infringement lawsuits against Ambry Genetics (on July 9th) and Gene-by-Gene (on July 10th) ...
Patent life: How the Supreme Court fell short
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia admitted he doesn’t really understand it. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote an entire court opinion implying—unconvincingly, ...
Science as social control: money, politics, and genetics research
The search for genetic predispositions is part of a longterm corporate and political effort to sway public opinion ...
Herpes virus explodes its genetic material into host
Scientists have long theorized that the herpes virus is so stuffed with genetic material that it explodes its genetic material straight out ...
RNA drugs target genes that were once off-limits
A new class of medicines could give doctors the ability to awaken underperforming genes in patients who currently have no ...
Biggest threat to tigers is their own limited gene pool
The skin and bones of long-dead tigers from the days of the British Raj have helped reveal how the latest ...
Methods for cloning mammoths, from the creator of Dolly the sheep
It is unlikely that a mammoth could be cloned in the way we created Dolly the sheep, as has been ...
Literal gene-ius: The search for a genetic basis of intelligence
Barely out of his teens, Chinese prodigy Zhao Bowen is leading a multimillion-dollar research effort to solve a genetic mystery: ...
Smithsonian’s genetics exhibit inspires mixed review
Smithsonian's new exhibit explains how the human genome relates to health, medicine and ethics, but not really how it works ...
Alzheimer’s blood test edges closer
For now, there is no definitive test for Alzheimer's disease. Doctors rely on cognition tests and brain scans. So one of ...
All happiness is not equal, at least when it comes to gene expression and stress
But if all happiness is created equal, and equally opposite to ill-being, then patterns of gene expression should be the ...
Single genetic glitch may explain most allergies and asthma
Researchers think there may be a common genetic driver behind almost all allergic diseases ...
Parents don’t fully understand biobank research, study finds
When the researchers followed up with families enrolled in a genetic biobank -- a storage facility for DNA, genetic data, and ...
Ancestry testing as a Rorschach test
The website The Root often has a Q & A with various African Americans, famous and not so famous, about their genealogy ...
Next-generation sequencing, with love
Last week, researchers at the University of Oxford announced that the first baby had been born after undergoing a technique which can ...
£250,000 synthetic burger may not be to everyone’s taste
The burger that will weigh in at 5oz, has cost £250,000 to produce, and could create a slice of history ...
Banking stem cells
Forget about cash—start banking your body. Using a technology that echoes science fiction movies, a French company is offering people ...
