Daily Human Digest
Video: ‘New humans’ — Combination of artificial intelligence, bionics, CRISPR and cloning could create next generation of humanity, says Siddhartha Mukherjee
Technologies like CRISPR gene editing, synthetic biology, bionics integrated with AI, and cloning will create "new humans," says Dr. Siddhartha ...
Backward slide for malaria: 16 million more cases in 2022 than before the pandemic
Malaria cases in 2022 exceeded the prepandemic level by 16 million cases, with several threats—including climate change—hampering progress ...
Jet lag and night shifts disturb our sleep cycles and molecular clocks. Could a drug one day reduce these effects?
The circadian clock sits in our brains keeps our bodies in rhythm and this helps control when we wake, eat, ...
Humans are born with brains roughly comparable to small primates — then humans have a brain development boom
A new study challenges the belief that human newborns have significantly less developed brains than other primates ...
Viewpoint: I took the exa-cel treatment for sickle cell disease. My symptoms ‘virtually disappeared overnight’
Exa-cel, the first CRISPR-based treatment to win approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, following the UK’s approval ...
Determining dementia risk: 21-point Brain Care Score predicts chances of dementia and stroke later in life
A new tool named the Brain Care Score, or BCS, may help you assess your risk of developing dementia or ...
Size isn’t everything: Brain connections and neuron wiring contribute more to human intelligence than volume
Human brains are bigger than those of our primate relatives, but evidence from extinct human ancestors suggests brain size isn't ...
Extending dog lifespans? Next wave of longevity drugs aim to add years to pet lives
Scientists have been chasing after drugs that might stave off this heartbreak by extending the lives of our canine companions ...
Breathing on Mars: AI-powered ‘robot chemist’ could analyze materials on other planets and figure out how to create oxygen
A robot chemist powered by artificial intelligence could solve the puzzle of providing oxygen to humans on Mars ...
How Casgevy came to be: How researchers found gene editing targets for newly-approved sickle cell drug
The world’s first commercial gene-editing treatment is set to start changing the lives of people with sickle-cell disease ...
Viewpoint: ‘Following sensationalism’ — How media distort science, influencing courts and regulators
It’s time for scientific bodies and institutions to more forcefully weigh in when science is too far behind media and ...
‘We’ve got miraculous therapies for ‘bubble boy disease’ that don’t fit in anyone’s business model’: Mainstream care elusive for most patients because of high costs
Hataałii Tiisyatonii “HT” Begay was born with a form of severe combined immunodeficiency, or SCID, which meant he had virtually ...
CRISPR moonshot: FDA approves first-ever US gene-edited based therapy, Casgevy, to treat sickle cell disease
December 8 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved two milestone treatments, Casgevy and Lyfgenia, representing the first cell-based gene ...
Rethinking the ‘little brain’: The cerebellum finally has its moment, recognized as a driver of higher human intelligence
Researchers are realizing that the 'little brain' or cerebellum expanded during evolution and contributes to the capacities unique to humans ...
CRISPR is cheap, effective and easy to use. That’s why human germline editing scares even some proponents
Crispr technology is based on a rudimentary immune system that Japanese scientists first noticed in bacteria three decades ago ...
Better than Ozempic? Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro helps patients shed more pounds faster than rival weight loss drug, data show
Overweight or obese adults lost more weight and shed pounds faster using Mounjaro than those taking Ozempic ...
‘Emotions are friends not foes’: Why we shouldn’t try to control negative emotions
Our beliefs about emotions—whether we feel that they’re good or bad, controllable or uncontrollable—affect our life and relationships ...
Psychedelics could help veterans with PTSD, anxiety and depression. Breakthroughs and dropping of taboos opening new treatment possibilities
Legislative proposals include studies of the effectiveness of using psychedelics to treat PTSD among active-duty servicemembers and veterans ...
Personalized precision medicine revolution is proceeding more slowly than hoped. Here’s why
The term 'personalized medicine' has gained traction, but what is it, does it help and are there concerns that need ...
Canine neuroscience: Exploring what shapes dog personalities
Why do dogs behave so differently, even within their own breeds? Neuroscientist unlocking secrets of canine brain ...
We’re headed into sniffle season. Which at-home remedies for stuffy noses work?
Snotty, stuffy noses are the hallmark of cold and flu season, but some medications and at-home remedies may offer relief ...
First on the list for de-extinction? The famed dodo
The dodo, a flightless bird once hunted to extinction, is to be re-introduced by genetically engineering fresh ones ...
Viewpoint: Skeptical take on newly-approved CRISPR sickle cell treatment tool
A gene editing therapy developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics works exceptionally well, yet treatment may not be simple ...
Viewpoint: Center for Genetics and Society advances ‘progressive’, ‘techno-pessimist’ argument against human germline editing
AI is a hot topic that some experts deeply steeped in the AI debate are warning about the social justice ...
Can alcoholism be inherited?
Researchers found an overlapping association between alcohol abuse and psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia ...
USDA under pressure to liberalize regulation of human gene-therapies and gene-editing, so US doesn’t fall further behind other countries
Worries about heritable genetic modifications are subsiding and sponsors should consider the US for regulatory advice and clinical trials ...
Could another species of humans evolve? Yes, if we begin populating other planets
Along with Homo sapiens, at least eight other species of human have existed. Ultimately, just one species prevailed: Homo sapiens ...