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.
We need more accurate metaphors for DNA
Ask me what a genome is, and I, like many science writers, might mutter about it being the genetic blueprint ...
New show ‘Becoming Us’ explores family complexities when parents transition gender
Anchored by an instantly likable teen, "Becoming Us" uses a screen that often subdivides into video blogs, FaceTime chats and ...
Researchers grow mammary gland in petri dish to study breast cancer
A research group has developed an assay whereby cultured human breast epithelial cells rebuild the three-dimensional tissue architecture of the ...
Ovary transplants could help fight infertility, but what are the risks?
For the first time, a woman who had an ovary removed as a child and part of it re-implanted as ...
Is altruism just selfishness in disguise?
Evolution proceeds by the differential reproduction of genes, so the challenge is to explain the persistence of a trait that, ...
Finding Ebola’s hiding place key to stopping another major outbreak
No one foresaw, back in December 2013, that the little boy who fell ill in a village called Méliandou, in ...
America is experiencing its worst bird flu outbreak ever: Why aren’t we more concerned?
Which epidemic has caused Americans greater anxiety: the Ebola outbreak, which began last year in Africa and has killed thousands ...
Computer AI system solves genetics mystery that stumped scientists
For years, biologists have sought to understand how the genes of planarians, a group of free-living flatworms, direct growth in ...
Can the placebo effect serve as actual medical treatment?
Currently, studies have shown that our genes can be modified by epigenetic factors such as; diet, life experiences, beliefs, perceptions, ...
Diets personalized to people’s biology could help curb disease
Scientists have created bespoke diets using a computer algorithm that learns how individual bodies respond to different foods. Researchers believe ...
How one man’s unique blood became life-saving medication
On the surface, James Harrison is just an average guy. He loves his daughter and grandchildren, collects stamps, and goes ...
Australian fertility clinics’ IVF success rates kept hidden from public: Should consumers have right to know?
In a departure from the usual IVF miracle baby stories, much attention has been devoted recently to IVF success rates, ...
Human head transplant could be attempted by 2017: What are major questions?
Is a human head transplant really possible? Sergio Canavero of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group in Italy says it is, and ...
Modern Europeans descended from mingling of distinct migratory groups
Two teams of scientists — one based at the University of Copenhagen and one based at Harvard University — have ...
Papua New Guinea community shows genetic resistance to mad cow, other brain conditions
Research involving a former brain-eating tribe from Papua New Guinea is helping scientists better understand mad cow disease and other so-called prion ...
Genetics experts weigh in on CRISPR regulation
Nature has been closely following the ongoing discussion on CRISPR-Cas9, and what this remarkably easy and powerful gene editing technique means ...
Sorry, Jurassic Park fans: Scientists focusing de-extinction genetics on saving living species
De-extinction is based on the concept that extinction need not be forever. One way to save those animals and plants ...
We’re entering a new generation of precision medicine
For decades, doctors treated nearly all patients with the same disease in the same way, aware that drugs that worked ...
Meet Watchfrogs: GM frogs and fish detect endocrine disrupting chemicals in wastewater
The public brouhaha over the first GM animal designed for human consumption--the AquaBounty salmon-- has thrown a cloud over the ...
Cooked food may have given humans evolutionary edge in intelligence
The human brain is an exceptionally hungry organ—an energy-guzzling appliance if ever there was one. As you sit still and ...
Many people avoid genetic tests for fear of discrimination
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is arguably the most effective law in the United States protecting people from misuse ...
Is treating disability a eugenics issue?
The latest issue of the American Journal of Bioethics examines the topic of new reproductive technologies and genetic diversity. A series of ...
Creativity-mental illness link not as strong as advertised in new study
Genetic variations that can collectively increase a person’s risk of being diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder can also be ...
Woman gives first-ever birth to child with ovarian tissue frozen before puberty
A case study reports on a young woman who gave birth to a healthy child after doctors restored her fertility ...
Some epigenetic changes in DNA are heritable, and research is beginning to explain how
In recent decades scientists have learned that DNA alone is not destiny, and they’ve been focusing on another layer of ...
With antibiotic resistance on the rise, what does the future look like?
Over the past 85 years, antibiotics have been miracle drugs. They’ve kept infections at bay and opened up a world ...
Who’s your (ancestral) daddy? Family tree genetics might link everyone to King David
Companies claiming to pinpoint your ancestral village of origin or relationship with famous historical figures are likely telling you the ...
