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.
Are Chinese scientists going rogue on latest COVID research? Experimental strain found 100% lethal in ‘humanized’ mice
Chinese scientists created a mutant COVID-19 strain, GX_P2V, with a 100% lethality rate in "humanized" mice ...
Scans of 10,000 brains show dramatic memory benefits from just 4 minutes of daily exercise
Exercising for 25 minutes a week, or less than four minutes a day, could help to bulk up our brains ...
Humans, apes and monkeys: Parts of primate DNA have been stable over 65 million years of evolution
Scientists have found that 3% to 5% of the genes in the human genome, which descended from a common ancestor ...
We may soon be able to treat hearing loss from loud noises and aging with drugs
Researchers have found a gene that links deafness to cell death in the inner ear in humans – creating new ...
Finding ‘beating heart cadavers’ — That’s what’s needed to fuel gene-edited organ research
The University of Pennsylvania connected a pig liver to a brain-dead person in an experiment that lasted for three days ...
Anti-aging elixirs: As search for life-extending drugs expands, ethical questions emerge
Scientists are now researching drugs in many places around the world that might enable us to live even longer ...
Humans have been chewing gum for nearly 10,000 years
A new study of the DNA in a chewing gum shows that one of the individuals had severe problems with ...
Elon Musk’s Neuralink implanted in a human, who is recovering well, billionaire tweets
Elon Musk said on the social media platform X on January 29 that the first human patient has received a brain implant developed ...
Viewpoint: Can AI chatbots understand the words they’re processing?
Far from being “stochastic parrots,” the biggest large language models seem to learn enough skills to understand the words ...
‘The edge of chaos’: Why switching tasks makes our brains go haywire
Study shows that our brains exist between chaos and stability—a finding that could be used to help tweak them either ...
Can cannabis make your workout more productive?
A bit of weed before a workout can boost motivation and make exercise more enjoyable. But if performance is the ...
Ear-ringing tinnitus is unrelenting and untreatable. Here’s a new strategy on how to live with it
An innovative treatment offers hope to the millions of people who hear sounds that others don’t. Here’s how it works ...
Video: Tyrannosaurus rex probably didn’t roar like a lion. Here’s how they might have sounded
Ask a researcher: Tyrannosaurus rex probably didn't roar like a lion. The sound it made might have been even scarier ...
Here are genetic reasons why some people age more quickly than others
Which genes are involved in aging and longevity? How are they involved? What are the therapeutic implications? ...
Understanding memory: Solving the puzzle of how the brain keeps recollections in order
Norwegian researchers are on the trail of a new and important piece in the large puzzle that is our brain ...
Maybe the Black Death did not reshape human evolution after all
An ancient-DNA study of medieval Cambridge found no sign of genes that helped people to survive the plague ...
Empathy and anticipation of desires: Children have it, but apes do not
Have you ever guessed what dish your significant other would order at a restaurant before they even picked up the ...
How might sharply curtailing calories slow the aging process?
Restricting calories is known to improve health and increase lifespan, but much of how it does so remains a mystery, ...
‘There is no sound I don’t like’ — In gene editing breakthrough, Lilly’s 30-day gene therapy restores hearing of 11-year old boy, with more deafness treatments on the way
The genetic treatment targeted a particular kind of congenital deafness and will soon be tried in children who are younger ...
‘Overly sanitized’ environments? Unraveling why diseases tied to chronic inflammation are spiking in the developed world
Research suggests that people raised in developed countries tend to have higher levels of chronic inflammation than those in developed ...
Viewpoint: Hard-wired gender — Don’t believe claims that there are almost no differences between male and female brains
Men’s and women’s brains are biased to notice and process different aspects of the social and physical world ...
Political psychology: Democrats and Republicans exist on polarized extremes
The United States, though politically fractious since its founding, is more polarized than ever, the rhetoric more inflammatory, the rage ...
In wake of 23andMe DNA data breach, privacy concerns reemerge
A new data breach is highlighting the risks of having your ancestry information stored online — and what it might ...
Viewpoint: An increasing number of Americans are rejecting vaccinations, and dying as a result of it. Can we reverse the trend?
Despite vaccines saving lives and improving population health, an increasing number of people are declining vaccinations ...
AI tools are already supercharging online harassment and hate campaigns. Can they be stopped?
A glimpse at how nefarious internet users could employ sophisticated AI tools to supercharge online harassment and hate campaigns ...
Whether you use Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro or Zepbound, you’re going to hit a weight-loss plateau. Then what?
Everyone hits a weight-loss plateau, but the race is on for next-generation drugs that can help patients lose even more ...
Unraveling the mystery of why cancer is soaring among people under 50
Researchers are trying to figure out what is making more young adults sick, and how to identify those at high ...
