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.
CRISPR moonshot: FDA approves first-ever US gene-edited based therapy, Casgevy, to treat sickle cell disease
December 8 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved two milestone treatments, Casgevy and Lyfgenia, representing the first cell-based gene ...
Rethinking the ‘little brain’: The cerebellum finally has its moment, recognized as a driver of higher human intelligence
Researchers are realizing that the 'little brain' or cerebellum expanded during evolution and contributes to the capacities unique to humans ...
Better than Ozempic? Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro helps patients shed more pounds faster than rival weight loss drug, data show
Overweight or obese adults lost more weight and shed pounds faster using Mounjaro than those taking Ozempic ...
‘Emotions are friends not foes’: Why we shouldn’t try to control negative emotions
Our beliefs about emotions—whether we feel that they’re good or bad, controllable or uncontrollable—affect our life and relationships ...
Canine neuroscience: Exploring what shapes dog personalities
Why do dogs behave so differently, even within their own breeds? Neuroscientist unlocking secrets of canine brain ...
We’re headed into sniffle season. Which at-home remedies for stuffy noses work?
Snotty, stuffy noses are the hallmark of cold and flu season, but some medications and at-home remedies may offer relief ...
First on the list for de-extinction? The famed dodo
The dodo, a flightless bird once hunted to extinction, is to be re-introduced by genetically engineering fresh ones ...
Can alcoholism be inherited?
Researchers found an overlapping association between alcohol abuse and psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia ...
Could another species of humans evolve? Yes, if we begin populating other planets
Along with Homo sapiens, at least eight other species of human have existed. Ultimately, just one species prevailed: Homo sapiens ...
‘Race is not a biological risk factor’: American Heart Association reassesses use of race in calculating risk of heart attacks and strokes
The cardiac-risk algorithm is an acknowledgment that, unlike sex or age, race identification in and of itself isn't a biological ...
Is death a singular event or a process?
Dying is in fact a process—one with no clear point demarcating the threshold across which someone cannot come back ...
Get headaches from red wine? Here’s the culprit
Is it sulfites, tannins or another culprit? Here’s what the research says about the migraines some people get with a ...
Radical advances in mind reading technology: How it’s possible to know what’s going on in someone else’s mind
How we think, feel and experience the world is a mystery, but technology may be starting to help us understand ...
House Republicans block pediatric care funding as war on gender-affirming care for transgender Americans escalates
House Republicans who waged fierce political battles over Obamacare and abortion have found a new focus: gender-affirming care ...
A green glowing monkey has been created in China. What were the scientists trying to learn?
Scientists in China have announced the birth of a primate like no other, with eyes that shined green and fingertips ...
Trust in scientists nosedives post pandemic with deeper slide among Republicans
A new Pew Research Center survey finds the share of Americans who say science has had a mostly positive effect ...
Artificial intelligence helps researchers unpack the mystery of how life on Earth began
AI is helping chemists unpick the mysteries around the origins of life and detect signs of it on other worlds ...
Why Vitamins A and E may do more harm than good
There are many important supplements that benefit people with specific deficiencies or certain health conditions; but research shows, and experts ...
Plastic paradox: ‘Dragging a net across the ocean to capture plastics may unintentionally trap the very organisms we aim to protect’
The ever-increasing problem of plastic pollution has prompted widespread efforts to combat it through innovative clean-up technologies. These advancements, however, ...
Tracing the history of evolutionary psychology all the way back to Charles Darwin
Evolutionary psychology can be traced back to Darwin's own work. Several variants have emerged on the scene over the decades ...
Viewpoint: Trials and tribulations plague the Effective Altruism movement
The multibillion-dollar Effective Altruism movement makes rich people feel good about being rich — to hell with the bad publicity ...
‘Game changing results’: Weight-loss drug Wegovy could cut heart attacks and deaths due to cardiovascular disease
Study that supports the use of Wegovy, to cut heart attacks and deaths in obesity patients with a history of ...
First CRISPR drug: UK approves Casgevy to prevent pain from sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia
The gene-editing therapy Casgevy uses Crispr to prevent debilitating pain in patients with sickle cell disease ...
Seeking an end to cosmic loneliness: Inside the quest to find out if humans are the only intelligent life in the universe
New tools, including machine learning and AI, could help scientists look past their preconceived notions of what constitutes life ...
‘Completely uncharted territory’: First whole eye transplant successful, but patient still blind
A surgical team at NYU Langone Health in New York had performed the world’s first successful whole-eye transplant in a ...
Peanut butter toothpaste? Daily dose of trace amount of nuts could help adults overcome severe allergies
Two dozen adults safely tolerated a toothpaste with trace amounts of peanut protein in an early-stage trial ...
Ekgmowechashala mystery solved: Unique Chinese monkey-like creature was last primate to populate the Americas before humans arrived
Besides being a spelling bee stumper, Ekgmowechashala likely descended from animals in China and somehow migrated to North America ...
