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.
Researchers suggest language may have evolved earlier than thought
Humans and Neanderthals share a common ancestor, likely Homo heidelbergensis, a species we diverged from as many as 400,000 years ago ...
Scientists look to revive the long-extinct passenger pigeon
Plans are afoot to bring back the extinct passenger pigeon via a weird-science process called de-extinction. The work is being spearheaded by ...
Researchers close in on better, faster ways to diagnose autism
A Canadian-led research team has identified several more genetic mutations that appear to be linked to autism spectrum disorder. The ...
Gene therapy using HIV helps children with fatal diseases, study says
Italian researchers have used a defanged version of HIV to replace faulty genes — and eliminate devastating symptoms — in children suffering ...
Rare mutation ignites race for cholesterol drug
The identification of woman with a rare gene mutation that results in astoundingly low LDL, or "bad," cholesterol levels has set off ...
Myriad Genetics sues competitors for patent infringement
Myriad genetics is suing two competitors for infringing on patents not covered by the Supreme Court's ruling on human gene ...
Scientists find genetic switch that may fuel breast cancer’s spread
Despite improvements in medical technology, doctors still struggle to tell which breast cancers are highly aggressive and likely to spread ...
UK joins project to make first synthetic eukaryote
UK researchers join a project to create the first synthetic eukaryote: designer yeast ...
Ethnic background influences immune response to TB
Your ethnic background could influence the way in which your body fights tuberculosis. Over the thousands of years that humans ...
Microparticles create localized control of stem cell differentiation
Before scientists and engineers can realize the dream of using stem cells to create replacements for worn out organs and ...
Researchers create compendium of RNA-binding sequences
Scientists know that much of what a gene does and produces is regulated after it is turned on. A gene ...
Clinics unroll genome tests for undiagnosed disorders
Over the past few years, teams of scientists have been finding genetic glitches related to a wide variety of disorders by sequencing exomes, ...
Virologists study H7N9 flu family tree to predict pandemic threat
Influenza virus H7N9 may be the next virus most likely to cause a pandemic. Earlier this year, the previously unknown avian ...
Married cousins boost birth defects
History is rife with famous married cousins: Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Edgar Allan Poe, and H.G. Wells all married their ...
Three-party IVF a slippery slope to human germline modifcation
The UK government’s recent move towards human trials of mitochondrial-replacement techniques has prompted intense interest among scientists and bioethicists, while ...
Sex selection has the potential to skew future generations
This week, a report by medical ethicists concluded there was no justification for the UK's current ban on sex selection of ...
Scientists find a new quasi-sexual method of bacterial reproduction
A new report describes a process by which bacteria can have the best of both sexual and asexual reproduction - ...
Detecting DNA in space
More than 3.5 billion years ago, a blitz of meteors ricocheted around the solar system, passing material between the two ...
Company uses genetically modified bacteria to produce artificial spider thread
A Japanese startup called Spiber Inc. said it has produced an artificial spider thread by bioengineering bacteria with recombinant DNA ...
Ancient bones’ DNA draws a direct line to people living today
A study of mitochondrial DNA reveals the long history of the Native American community in northern British Columbia, Canada ...
Monsanto wants to help honeybees fight mites with biotech
A new weapon in that fight to save honeybees could be RNA molecules that kill a troublesome parasite by disrupting ...
Genetic screen finds new treatment targets for lung cancer
Cancer Research UK scientists are the first to use an efficient new screening strategy to identify gene faults in tumour cells that ...
New genome sequencing technique produces its first genetically-screened IVF baby
The first IVF baby to screened using an inexpensive and fast genome sequencing procedure has been born in the US ...
Scientists watch DNA development in a growing brain
Researchers have used chemical tracking and genome sequencing to create a time-lapse map of human brains as they develop ...
How do genetics, practice, and luck produce talent?
Many people have an overly simplistic understanding of talent. They view talent as innate, ready to spring forth given the ...
A family exploration of three generations of genetics
In 2008, my 19-year-old daughter, Danielle, took the same type of DNA test for breast and ovarian cancer that actress ...
Unique epigenomic code identified during human brain development
Changes in the epigenome, including chemical modifications of DNA, can act as an extra layer of information in the genome, ...
