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.
Curing Alzheimer’s: Unwinding mystery of the 76-year-old man with a disease that (until now) always caused dementia by 50
Mr. Whitney, 76, is a scientific unicorn with potential to provide answers about one of the world’s most devastating diseases ...
Viewpoint: Beware the cancer quacks: Here’s why ‘functional-medicine-doctor-practicing-without-a-license’ Casey Means is a disaster choice for surgeon general
It appears that our next U.S. Surgeon General will be Casey Means, who labels herself a “functional medicine” doctor. Or ...
Should women heed RFK, Jr.’s warning that COVID shots can harm children of pregnant women? New study says ‘no’
A new study suggests that children of mothers who had COVID-19 during pregnancy are at 29% higher risk of neurodevelopmental ...
Viewpoint: The science behind seasonal affective disorder
Although seasonal affective disorder (Sad) was only formally recognised by psychiatrists in the 1980s, the link between the seasons, mood ...
The resurrection of the dire wolf is phony, but Colossal Biosciences’ de-extinction research could revolutionize drug development and healthcare
Similar to the way NASA’s effort to launch humans into space once triggered a frenzy of technological advances in areas ...
Viewpoint: So-called green energy policy that rejects carbon-free nuclear power leads to rising electricity rates
Electricity prices are rising, and Democrats are making it a campaign issue. They blame the price hike on President Trump ...
DNA analysis used to decipher fossilized Neanderthal remains okayed for genetic analysis of alleged serial murderer
A judge in New York rejected a request on 23 September to disqualify the use of cutting-edge DNA sequencing as ...
Preserved poop offers a window into the health and life of ancient humans
Feces is an open window into the many other organisms living in our bodies—from beneficial bacteria to harmful parasites. The genetic material ...
Viewpoint: Tort lawyer RFK, Jr. — Trump alliance trashing Tylenol opens the door to a flood of dubious lawsuits
A lawsuit Texas filed ... against the makers of Tylenol foreshadows a wave of legal warfare enabled by the Trump ...
Power gambit: Some women embrace bald look as a new symbol of power and beauty
Sensuous, self-assured and glamorous are not the adjectives typically assigned to women with shorn hair. For centuries, many cultures have viewed long ...
Republican Texas Supreme Court unanimously rules judges can refuse to perform same sex marriages
Texas judges who decline to perform a wedding ceremony based on a “sincerely held religious belief” do not violate the ...
‘Not sufficient evidence’: RFK, Jr. now rejects his claim that Tylenol is linked to autism, one day after Texas claimed it in a lawsuit
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said October 29 that he does not have “sufficient” evidence to link Tylenol to ...
How much sleep do we really need?
[Sleep] is more than a luxury or idle downtime, it’s a vital biological process that supports nearly every system in ...
Resurrecting Neanderthals: The scientific challenge and ethical debate
When scientists sequenced the Neanderthal genome in 2010, they learned that Neanderthals interbred with human ancestors before mysteriously going extinct. This genetic breakthrough yielded ...
Viewpoint: The biggest winners of RFK, Jr.’s junk science push
Two advisers to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sat on a stage in California this ...
‘‘It could determine the future of the world’: Putin morphs from ethical opponent of gene editing humans to support for creating CRISPR-edited soldiers “without fear, without compassion, without regret or even pain.” It could happen soon
While known experiments with Crispr—to improve crops, modify malaria-carrying mosquitoes, treat cancer—are constantly expanding, no government has approved wielding the tool to ...
Collecting DNA from hundreds of thousands of detainees, Trump administration immensely expands immigration enforcement
The Trump administration is moving to collect DNA samples from hundreds of thousands of people booked into federal immigration custody ...
Is AI the solution to combating soaring cases of scientific publishing fraud?
Today, ‘around one in 50 papers’ have patterns that suggest that they are from paper mills, says Adam Day, chief ...
Rejecting consensus science and following RFK, Jr.’s playbook, Texas sues Tylenol, claiming it knew the painkiller causes autism
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit ... against Tylenol-maker Kenvue and its former parent company, Johnson & Johnson, ...
The fake Tylenol-causes-autism scare has revived an ancient debate: When should you treat a fever?
An evolutionary feature more than 600 million years old, fevers are a common accompanyment of a wide range of infections by ...
‘She started having orgasms for the first time in years’: More and more women are embracing testosterone’s sex and energy jolt
Just as estrogen is a crucial hormone for men, testosterone is an important hormone for women, instrumental in the development ...
Vaccines, raw milk, fluoride, Tylenol: MAHA right-wing alliance floods state houses with hundreds of science-rejectionist bills
More than 420 anti-science bills attacking longstanding public health protections – vaccines, milk safety and fluoride – have been introduced ...
Republican states win case striking down rule protecting transgender health care rights
A federal judge has ruled that federal anti-discrimination protections for transgender people in health care are unconstitutional, allowing legal discrimination ...
Should we use CRISPR gene editing to remake humanity?
“We are as gods and might as well get good at it,” Stewart Brand, the free-thinking philosopher of technology, wrote in ...
A new therapy has been developed that promoters claim can remove microplastics from the body. Is it safe? Does it work?
There is mounting evidence that microplastics and “forever chemicals” are infiltrating human bodies and endangering people’s health. ... Interventions to ...
RFK, Jr. and his vaccine-skeptical acolytes at the CDC are recommending that we split childhood vaccines to allegedly prevent autism. That’s a scientifically dangerous idea
As anti-vaccine sentiment rises nationally, prominent people have proposed splitting combination vaccines into individual shots. For example, the new acting ...
Saving life from extinction: Why it’s critical to protect and preserve bacteria and other microbes
Hundreds of scientists have joined together to save a group of species from extinction, a group that might not seem ...
