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.
Pill that preserves youthfulness proposed for approval to fight age-related diseases
Doctors and scientists want drug regulators and research funding agencies to consider medicines that delay ageing-related disease as legitimate drugs ...
Epigenetics can help humans understand our ancient past
Some types of epigenetic modifications are directly influenced by environmental factors. Thus, characterizing and understanding the "epigenome" can help us ...
Is the infinite universe of Internet pornography a danger, or an asset to sexuality?
‘The widespread use of internet porn is one of the fastest-moving global experiments ever unconsciously conducted,’ the U.S. science writer ...
Will genetic cyber-athletes come to dominate sports?
The era of the über-athlete may be nearer than most people think, and it will spark fierce ethical debates. The ...
Trials halted for Ebola drug after no results seen in human patients
One of the highly anticipated trials of an Ebola drug that showed promising results in monkeys has been stopped early ...
Neanderthal ancestors closer than previously thought, new fossil evidence shows
Modern humans and Neanderthals interbred in Europe, an analysis of 40,000-year-old DNA suggests. The study suggests an early Homo sapiens ...
Frederick P. Li, scientist who helped prove genetic link to cancer risk, dies
Dr. Frederick P. Li, who helped prove to a doubting medical establishment that heredity and genetics play a major role in some ...
Survivors of WWII Leningrad siege had superior metabolism, genetic analysis suggests
Analysis of the genome structure of Leningrad siege survivors and their contemporaries has allowed Russian scientists to spot specific DNA ...
Nanotechnology could lead to revolution in drug development
Monoclonal antibody research skyrocketed in the 1980s. By the next decade, they hit the market and today, some of the ...
Jumping genes make your genome not quite human
What if a gene from an insect insinuated itself straight into your DNA? What if more than a hundred genes ...
Transhumanist dilemma: Should we be allowed unlimited access to our own genetic information?
Up until recently, those in the technology industry and those conducting genomic research would have been considered strange bedfellows. But ...
Growing assisted reproduction industry raises questions about unused embryos
In storage facilities across the nation, hundreds of thousands of frozen embryos — perhaps a million — are preserved in ...
What would humans do if we never had to sleep again?
If there was a drug that meant you never had to sleep again, would you take it? Would those who ...
MERS arrival in yet another country raises concerns about global preparedness
A respiratory virus that originates in the Middle East and has been hopscotching the globe for three years has landed in ...
Gene therapy treatment for bowel cancer may be on the horizon
Bowel cancer’s origins can often be traced back to just a single faulty gene: APC – short for adenomatous polyposis coli ...
Mini ‘placenta-on-a-chip’ gives closer look at mysterious organ
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have created a “placenta-on-a-chip,” a miniature device that uses actual human cells to ...
DNA forensics could help fight illegal elephant poaching
Every year criminals around the world trade billions of dollars in products derived from wildlife. The elephant trade in particular ...
Ongoing lack of MERS vaccine inexcusable as virus spreads in South Korea
Three years after the mysterious MERS virus first emerged in humans, scientists and drugmakers say there is no excuse for ...
Ancient Kennewick man Native American, not European, DNA shows
In July 1996, two college students were wading in the shallows of the Columbia River near the town of Kennewick, ...
Is routine Down syndrome screening a social justice issue?
Upon delivering my first child 11 years ago, I heard the words “Down syndrome,” and my world collapsed. Visions of ...
More teens going through gender reassignment
It is a transgender moment. President Obama was hailed just for saying the word “transgender” in his State of the Union address this year, ...
Database of ancient human DNA opened for global public access
Medical and other researchers and science teachers around the world will be able to compare ancient DNA from humans from ...
Understanding HIV’s genetic code will help treat patients with greater precision
A virus contains its own genes, but it is able to replicate only when it gets inside the cells of ...
Regulation of mitochondrial replacement therapy needs to consider cross-generational consequences
How does one go about regulating the world’s first cross-generational biological experiment in human germline modification? The regulating body in ...
Mitochondrial medicine: Pushing the limits of resuscitation
Mitochondria are the power plants of the cell. Along with understanding the role of mitochondria in causing damage to the ...
DDT found to dramatically raise breast cancer risk in women exposed while in womb
Women exposed in the womb to high levels of the pesticide DDT have a nearly fourfold increased risk of developing breast cancer, ...
How did humans first learn to use tools?
Chimpanzees and bonobos are the two closest living relatives of the human species - the ultimate tool-using ape. Yet, despite ...
