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.
Mapping neurons in animal brains path to understanding how human mind works
Neuroscientists have long aspired to understand the intangible properties of the mind. Our most treasured cerebral qualities, like the ability ...
Why the US won’t spot the next big COVID wave until it’s too late
Lines on charts can tell you something about the state of the Covid pandemic in the United States. Deaths: declining, ...
First links shown between climate change and human evolution
Imagine doing a homework assignment that forced you to leave your computer running for half a year. That is what ...
Tirzepatide: Drug in trials that can help you shed 50 pounds or more is as effective as bariatric surgery
Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly [recently] disclosed the latest data from a phase III trial of its experimental type 2 diabetes ...
Test disease-suppressing GMO mosquito release in California delayed for at least one year
The release of billions of genetically engineered, non-biting mosquitoes in the Visalia, [California] area has been postponed for at least ...
Alcohol addiction cure? Gene editing did just that in rats, offering hope for treatment in humans
Gene editing may be a potential treatment for anxiety and alcohol use disorder in adults who were exposed to binge ...
Viewpoint: ‘The race question’ — Two cultural anthropologists argue case against ancestral-based biological differences
Our recent book, Racism, Not Race, tackles a big lie: The idea that human beings have biological races. Biological races ...
A single mutation in one human gene contributes to why humans are so cancer-prone. What was the evolutionary trade-off?
A tiny change in our DNA that occurred after we evolved away from other primates has made us more prone ...
Viewpoint: Ancestry and ‘race’ are not interchangeable. Here’s why that matters
Race, widely used as a variable across biomedical research and medicine, is an appropriate proxy for racism — but not ...
Dysfunction or constructive evolution? Adaptive reasons for minor psychological disorders
Lesleigh Pullman and colleagues recently set out to assess the hypothesis that psychopathy might not be a mental disorder, but ...
Evolution rejectionists turn to mathematics and probability theory to bolster their case. Here’s why they’ve failed
For the past fifteen years, the anti-evolutionist literature has been dominated by mathematical arguments, typically drawn from the fields of ...
Ethics and gene editing: How China is deterring another ‘CRISPR babies’ scandal
China’s powerful State Council is calling on research institutions to expand and improve their ethics training. The directive, one of ...
Understanding genetic basis for heart disease opens up opportunity for gene editing solution
Later this year, Verve Therapeutics of Cambridge, Ma., will initiate Phase 1 clinical trials to test VERVE-101, a new medication ...
Reviewing ‘The Genetic Lottery’: How much does genetics define us?
You must know the parable about the frog that sits in a pot of water being gradually heated, allowing itself ...
There’s a ‘magic number’ of hours for optimal sleep in middle age — and disruptions could be connected to dementia
New research has found that around seven hours of sleep is the ideal night’s rest, with insufficient and excessive sleep ...
Medical advice switch: Daily aspirin to prevent heart disease offers no benefits — and could be harmful
Taking low-dose aspirin every day to prevent a heart attack or stroke provides little to no benefit to people without ...
How the gut microbiome influences how we experience stress and anxiety
As of 2010, anxiety has become the sixth most common disability worldwide, impairing the lives of millions. This stress-induced condition ...
Is your pit bull aggressive? Labrador affectionate? Genetic study challenges widely held belief that breed drives canine personality
Chihuahuas are labeled yappy and temperamental, whereas bulldogs are described as easygoing and sociable. These behavioral stereotypes are ingrained in ...
Can genetically engineered mice permanently curb Lyme disease?
As spring emerged on this island of manicured estates and idyllic beaches, a group of scientists from the Boston area ...
Network of symptoms: A new way to think about mental disorders — and why some treatment strategies are doomed to fail
A novel perspective on psychopathology [is called the] network perspective, pioneered by the Dutch psychometrician Denny Borsboom and his colleagues ...
Neurochemical kindness? The more oxytocin in our aging brains, the nicer and happier we are
People whose brains release more of the neurochemical oxytocin are kinder to others and are more satisfied with their lives ...
Will human biases sink artificial intelligence (AI)?
You’ve probably heard the joke. Two campers see a bear approaching. One starts putting on her sneakers. The other asks: ...
What is life like on other planets? Microorganisms provide possible clues
In Oman, on the Persian Gulf, there is a large slab of ancient seafloor—including ultramafic rocks from Earth’s upper mantle—called ...
Epidemic of loneliness: Post-COVID update on how emotional isolation damages our health
For two years you didn’t see friends like you used to. You missed your colleagues from work, even the barista ...
‘A real life hyperpolyglot’: The story of a savant who can speak 24 languages (well, more like 33!)
“So, how many languages do you speak?” “Oh, goodness,” [46 year old carpet cleaner Vaughn] Vaughn says. “Eight, fluently.” “Eight?” ...
Why apathy is often the first symptom of Alzheimer’s
Compelling new research from the Indiana University School of Medicine has homed in on a degenerative mechanism that could explain ...
Accidents of nature? Climate change is helping us understand how humans came to rule the world
How did Homo sapiens come to rule the planet? It’s a question that many archaeologists have struggled to precisely answer, ...
