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.
Do the most successful students always make the best teachers?
There are those who think that the tough race to become a teacher in Finland is the key to good ...
Decisions and environment of a parent can genetically effect offspring
For the last few years and extremely hot topics has been epigenetics, which broadly speaking is the study of proteins ...
Interaction of environment, genetics may be responsible for more allergies in developed countries
In Western Australia, Curtin University's Brad Zhang has been looking at why Australians have one of the highest rates of ...
Fetal DNA test highly accurate in detecting Down syndrome
A Roche blood test to screen fetuses for Down syndrome worked far better than standard prenatal screening tests in younger, ...
Ken Burns’ cancer documentary a tour de force
Forbes The 6-hour Ken Burns and Barak Goodman television documentary “Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies,” television documentary “Cancer: The Emperor of All ...
‘European’ genetic traits evolved recently, spread rapidly over continent
The origins of Europeans have come into sharp focus as researchers have sequenced the genomes of ancient populations, rather than ...
Why does science denialism persist, and how is it harming society?
The March issue of National Geographic raises many intriguing questions about the world we live in today. It also has a particular ...
First IVF baby in Europe born with DNA selected to eliminate muscular dystrophy risk
The first baby has been born in Europe from a new IVF procedure that checks embryos for devastating genetic disorders ...
First portable DNA sequencer proves fruitful in finding disease quickly and accurately
In June 2014, Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham reported an outbreak of Salmonella infection. It affected 30 patients and staff in two ...
We need to reevaluate how we define depression
In the wake of the Germanwings tragedy, mental health advocates are deeply concerned about misleading generalizations that may increase the ...
Understanding autism: Human stem cells offer new research approach
The simplest and most direct method of studying the human brain is to probe the living organ directly. For myriad ...
Long Island research center, NY hospitals join forces to find cancer treatments
Some of the world’s finest scientists live in a former whaling village on the North Shore of Long Island, in ...
Can new research point to origin of prostate cancer?
Prostate cancer, the most common cancer in men, often occurs as many smaller tumours in the same prostate, all with ...
How one infant’s death made important contribution to research
When she found out early in her pregnancy that one of her identical twins would die at birth, Sarah Gray ...
Adjustment to CRISPR method could make gene editing therapy a reality
A tweak to a technique that edits DNA with pinpoint precision has boosted its ability to correct defective genes in ...
Public engagement in science matters key to solving ethical dilemmas
The need for researchers to escape the lab or the seminar room from time to time, and talk to the ...
Could climate change increase species diversity?
A decade ago, ecologist Chris Thomas warned that climate change would wipe out a quarter of all species. In the following ...
Bizarre new insect-like fossil found in Canada
Following hot on the heels – or is that fins? – of the filter-feeder Aegirocassis– Yawunik kootenayi is the latest ancient ...
How biotech is revolutionizing personalized medicine
Over the last several decades, DNA – the genetic material of life as we know it – has completed a remarkable ...
Does size matter enough to inject stem cells directly into your penis?
Does size matter? Can a man get bigger and could he do it via stem cells? An increasing number of ...
Airborne antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in Texas may pose major threat to health
A new study says the DNA from antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in American cattle yards has become airborne, creating a new pathway ...
Invasion of alien microorganisms: Humans are a walking petri dish, and our genes have been infiltrated
From childhood, we're taught to think of microorganisms as entities apart from us. But they are are really a major ...
Legal use of genetic information breaches privacy concerns
One of the legally and ethically problematic issues regularly debated in the context of biobanks and tissue repositories is that ...
Invasive surgeries may be replaced with ultrasound therapy
Phyllis is having brain surgery. But she is wide awake. There are no scalpels and no blood, sliced flesh or ...
Why some organisms sacrifice own reproduction for evolution of community
In 2010 three authors—Martin Nowak, Corina Tarnita, and E. O. Wilson—published a paper in Nature (reference and link below) purporting ...
Can biomedical data be boiled down to Amazon.com-style recommendations?
Citizen scientists and research startups have begun to play an important role in creating new data sets for biomedical researchers ...
Is Facebook overstepping privacy boundaries with DNA testing app?
A new medical research study aims to screen the genes of at least 20,000 people. Part of a surging tide ...
