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.
The genetic mystery of the woman who doesn’t grow
Twenty year old Brooke Greenberg hasn’t grown since age five. For the last 15 years mystified doctors have been unable to explain ...
GE bacteria could lead to better vaccines
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a menu of 61 new strains of genetically engineered bacteria ...
Complex behaviors driven by remarkably simple genetics
Humans engage in a lot of complex behaviors, but many of them are learned. Genetics gives us a nervous system ...
Women with a family history of breast cancer could be offered preventative medicine
The IndependentWomen with a family history of breast cancer could be offered preventative ...The IndependentThe NHS may also start offering ...
Human enhancement could turn soldiers into weapons that violate international law
Memory-erasing drugs to ward off PTSD; co-opting the physiology of dolphins and sled-dogs to work all week without sleep few ...
Court lifts cloud over embryonic stem cells
Nature.comCourt lifts cloud over embryonic stem cellsNature.comThe US Supreme Court's decision last week to throw out a lawsuit that would ...
Biracial women pushed to undergo genetic screening
Doctors are pushing biracial Brooklyn women to undergo genetic counseling to learn if their racial mix makes them more prone ...
A call for action: Genetic testing before prescriptions
Codeine is an opioid pain medication; but if you are a poor metabolizer of a particular enzyme (CYP2D6), you will experience ...
Editing tool created for human genome
A technique which allows genetic editing has been successfully tested on human cells meaning that genetic medicine -- previously an expensive and ...
Epigenetics: promising field delivers
Epigenetics: Promising Field DeliversGenetic Engineering NewsThe fascination with epigenetics stems not only from the profound impact that it has exerted ...
Stem cell showdown: Small business versus the FDA
In Texas, the science of stem cells has collided with a governor’s ambitions, a businessman’s optimism, a doctor’s faith, and ...
Genomes link aboriginal Australians to Indians
Some aboriginal Australians can trace as much as 11% of their genomes to migrants who reached the island around 4,000 ...
DNA technique reveals looks of long-dead Humans
The color of the eyes and hair of ancestors dead for hundreds of years can now be revealed from their ...
Leishmaniasis: Genetic link found in far-flung victims of a lethal form of a parasitic disease
Whether someone bitten by a sandfly goes on to develop the most lethal form of leishmaniasis is determined partly by the victim’s ...
The case for selective paternalism in genetic testing
The case against paternalism in genetics is a cause célèbre among many scientists and science writers. The argument generally paints ...
Can genomics help developing countries face their growing burden of disease?
For low-income countries, establishing health care genomics is expensive and requires infrastructure and skilled human resources that may be lacking ...
Gene discovery boosts hope of preventing blood disorders
Noah Edwards is four years old and suffers from a disorder that prevents his blood from clotting. He bleeds profusely ...
Are we entering the age of $1 million medicine?
More than a quarter of the new medicines approved in the United States last year were designated for rare or ...
Ron Unz on genius, IQ, race and meritocracy
What is the nature of intelligence and genius? Literally thousands of studies definitively show that DNA plays a dominant role; ...
Transgender people in Sweden no longer face forced sterilization
TIMETransgender People in Sweden No Longer Face Forced SterilizationTIMEIn 1999, Sweden granted 175,000 kronor in damages to women who had ...
Could a dopamine gene be the key to longer life?
A gene linked to attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and addiction might also help you live to be 100. A study ...
Safety of induced stem cells gets a boost
New research refutes a 2011 study which raised concerns over the side-effects of induced pluripotent stem cells as a treatment ...
New law provides federal funds for DNA collection in criminal cases
President Barack Obama on Thursday signed into law Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) legislation that provides funding for the collection of ...
Made in the image of God: Human value and genomics
In January 2011 and then in January 2012 I posted two articles exploring the implications of contemporary genomics for the Judeo-Christian idea of humankind ...
DNA ‘identichip’ gives a detailed picture of a suspect
Imagine you are trying to solve a burglary, and your sole lead is a cigarette butt. It has enough DNA ...
For those with the rarest diseases, genomes can yield answers
For many of us, having our genomes in hand today isn’t likely to make any profound difference in our lives, ...
MIT researchers crack cheap, precise gene therapy
Disease is on the run! An incredible advance in the realm of gene therapy has been made by top researchers ...
