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.
‘Opposite of a one-size-fits-all approach’: Every Australian child with cancer eligible for genetic testing and precision treatment
A ‘precision medicine’ program that is expected to reduce deaths and improve life spans is about to be rolled out ...
How cloning, gene editing and synthetic biology can help humanity stop the anticipated sixth extinction crisis
The world has entered the sixth extinction crisis with the loss of species having a devastating impact on the biodiversity ...
Dog breeds do not always determine behavior: Inside the quest to recategorize dog lineages
Genetic studies of dogs have often found that breed does not determine a dog's behavior. New research suggests lineages, not ...
Evolution of expression: Why is the ability to read faces so important to humans?
Among the many distinctive traits of humans istheir ability to communicate with each other. While the most readily apparent form ...
Clues to possible new treatments for tuberculosis: Genetic mutation that leads to Gaucher disease may protect Ashkenazi Jews from TB
In research published February 6 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Cambridge scientists – with colleagues in ...
Johann Gregor Mendel: The victory of statistics over human imagination
In 2022, we celebrated 200 years since the birth of Johann Gregor Mendel. Although his contributions to science went unrecognized ...
At-home biohacking using CRISPR to edit DNA? You can do it with a kit
Genetic engineering using CRISPR from the comfort of home might seem futuristic, but you can do it right now ...
How long do you ‘naturally’ sleep? Scientists unwrap genetic factors
Flies reveal secrets of sleep: Aggie biologists are joining forces with the University of Pennsylvania to solve the mystery of ...
Viewpoint: ‘How can we ensure that AI technologies currently being developed are used for the common good, rather than for the benefit of a select few?’
Over the past few years, the AI ethics discourse has revolved around two questions we have touched on already. How ...
Does obesity damage the brain?
Obesity appears to harm the areas of the brain responsible for learning, memory and judgment ...
Amateur genetic sleuthing helped catch the Golden State Killer – but opens up ethical concerns about racial bias in genealogy
Barbara Rae-Venter’s account of her genetic sleuthing illustrates the power of technologies to bring criminals to justice. But should there ...
Microalgae-based cosmetics? Popularity of new skin care products not yet matched by science
According to Mintel’s GNPD (Global New Product Database), in 2022, 22.2% of new US skincare product launches included chlorella or ...
Publicity stunt? Chinese embryo-tinkering scientist supports limitations on gene editing embryos — but refuses to discuss his 2018 CRISPR experiment
He Jiankui refused to answer researchers’ questions about his controversial 2018 experiments at weekend event ...
Psychologist Steven Pinker: ‘Language is a window to the human mind’
Language reveals that our long-term memory storage is sizable, but that we mostly remember in abstractions. It also shows that ...
‘The level of infrastructure is mind-boggling’: Laser mapping reveals sprawling Mayan ruins in Guatemala dating back 2,000 years
Vast Maya kingdom is revealed in Guatemalan jungle: Archaeologists identify a sprawling network of ancient ruins using laser mapping technology ...
Million-dollar gene therapies offer salvation for many patients but pose financial challenges for government-funded health care systems
A wave of transformative but hugely expensive treatments is challenging the budgets of health systems in wealthy nations. Now countries ...
HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ under the microscope: Could a zombie fungus really infect humans?
The hit HBO series "The Last Of Us" describes a post-pandemic world devastated by a mass outbreak of a "zombie ...
Nootropics: No evidence over-the-counter supplements preserve memory — and they may be dangerous
Is there anybody over 50 who wouldn't want to maintain their cognitive skills and remember where they put their keys? ...
What guardrails should be set when using gene editing to improve our species? March global meeting of scientists will address
As the world’s top human genome editing researchers gather in London, the ethical issues posed by pioneering scientific advances will ...
‘Genealogy for all humanity’: What does the world’s most comprehensive family tree tell us about our 27 million ancestors?
Ancestry has become a pretty mainstream passion, with tens of thousands of people spending their spare time tracing family lines ...
Neanderthals R Us: An exploration of ‘sensitive genetics’
The differences between us and our forebears always fired the imagination. New research shows that these ancient 'extinct' folks are ...
Human genome data used in most healthcare research is based on one American’s DNA. With personalized medicine booming, that’s a problem
Healthcare’s standard genome is mostly based on one American. As we enter the era of personalised medicine, this bias has ...
‘Love hormone’ in doubt? Research on monogamous prairie voles raises doubts about oxytocin’s role in social bonding
For 40 years, oxytocin has been believed to be the ‘love hormone’ or the ‘cuddle hormone’ which inspires love and ...
Gene therapy delivered directly to the brain treats extremely rare disease in children
When Rylae-Ann Poulin was a year old, she didn’t crawl or babble like other kids her age. A rare genetic ...
Viewpoint: ‘Free will exists, but it doesn’t work in the way we intuitively imagine’
New research findings, combined with philosophy, suggest free will is real but may not operate in the ways people expect ...
All in your head? Long COVID has been dismissed by some as a psychological phenomenon and not a medical condition. Here’s why they are wrong
Despite all the patient voices and validating studies from university labs, long Covid has been dismissed by some doctors and ...
Drug research is plagued with extreme costs and high failure rates. Here’s how genetic data could transform how we develop medications
Drug development has long been an issue for the pharma industry, due to the expense and the high failure rate ...
