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.
Is cancer a byproduct of modernity?
If there’s one claim that irritates me that various proponents of alternative medicine like to make, it’s that cancer is ...
Research doesn’t support fish oil’s supposed benefits for cardiovascular health
Fish oil is now the third most widely used dietary supplement in the United States, after vitamins and minerals, according ...
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 ...
CRISPR-Cas9: How to move forward with revolutionary new DNA editing technology
In 2012, scientists in the U.S. and Sweden invented a technology as potentially life-altering as splitting the atom. One that ...
Yoghurt from where?! Researcher creates dairy snack from own vaginal microbes
A Ph.D student in the U.S. created yoghurt using the bacterial cultures from her own vagina and ate it. And it turns ...
New brain tumor treatment looks promising, but probably not miracle cure
CBS’ hit newsmagazine 60 Minutes devoted not one but two segments to an early-stage trial at Duke University of a cancer ...
Wealthy parents have bigger-brained children, study shows
Have Mum and Dad got a few quid to spare? You'd better hope so, because the wealthier your parents are, ...
Your cat’s genome may help you out in old age
The cat genome is out of the bag, and has already helped to pinpoint a gene involved in kidney disease ...
Microbiome of rural populations distinctly different, more ‘diverse’ than in Western populations
The study of the human microbiome—the motley assortment of microbes that live in our bodies—has largely been the study of ...
Can a philosophical problem tell if you’re a psychopath?
Stop me if you've heard this one. A trolley carrying five school children is headed for a cliff. You happen ...
Should women with high risk BRCA mutation follow Angelina Jolie’s path?
Angelina Jolie has done wonders for raising awareness about the so-called “breast cancer gene”—the infamous BRCA1 mutation that can greatly ...
Microbes and space: Should we be worried about contaminating Mars?
Forward contamination, in the context of planetary protection, refers to the transport of microbes from Earth to Mars. The title ...
Chip off the old block? Fathers pass along more of their DNA, disease problems and all
We receive an equal amount of raw DNA from our fathers and mothers, but dad's genetic trust fund comes with ...
Can artist teach geneticists to comprehend masses of Big Data?
For the past year or so genetic scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York have been ...
Human evolution ‘now in our hands,’ some scientists say
After my public lectures on evolution, someone in the audience invariably asks, “Are we still evolving?” People want to know ...
Space twins: Scott Kelly’s one-year space mission could yield genetic bounty
On a one-year space mission, astronaut Scott Kelly will be the subject of medical and genetic experiments while his identical ...
In Iceland, treasure chest of genetic information may help find cures
Scientists in Iceland have produced an unprecedented snapshot of a nation’s genetic makeup, discovering a host of previously unknown gene ...
Can neuroscience explain why people love to torture?
It is fascinating to read about torture because one realizes how much ordinary people were involved in it and enjoy ...
Real paleo human microbiome specially designed for hunter-gatherer diet
Eat like a hunter-gatherer and you’ll be healthier—so goes the thinking behind so-called paleo diets. But a new study suggests ...
Elephants’ superpowered trunks may help sniff out explosives
The pachyderm is among a group of tame African elephants helping the U.S. military develop an artificial "nose" that could ...
Will ‘Jolie effect’ lead more women to seek unnecessary surgery?
Angelina Jolie Pitt's decision to have her ovaries surgically removed, which the actress and director detailed in The New York ...
Canada and 23andMe: Can direct-to-consumer tests facilitate genetics-based discrimination?
In Canada, direct-to-consumer DNA testing has fallen through the yawning chasm known as the constitutional division of powers. Health Canada ...
Jolie effect? Will breast cancer mutation carriers follow Angela’s lead in opting for life altering surgeries?
Sometimes celebrities share too much in public; sometimes celeb sharing can help save lives. Angelina Jolie, an otherwise fairly discreet ...
You light up my life: High tech gene applied to erectile dysfunction
More than half of men over age 60 have experienced the issue at some time, so if it does happen ...
Did dogs team up with humans to drive Neanderthals to extinction?
Ancient humans drove Neanderthals to extinction around 40,000 years ago with the help of dogs soon after canines diverged from ...
