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.
How the fossils ‘Lucy’ and “Ardi’ changed our understanding of human history
The discovery of [Lucy,] Australopithecus afarensis, advanced science in numerous ways. First, it illuminated one of the greatest mysteries of ...
Viewpoint: Reducing the number of Down syndrome births is a form of eugenics
No one should underestimate the complexity and difficulty of deciding whether to test for Down syndrome or terminate a pregnancy ...
Can dogs see optical illusions too?
Psychologists use visual illusions all the time to study the shortcuts the human brain uses to extract information about the ...
Nipples seem useless in men – so why do they have them?
Males and females do, in fact, start from the same genetic blueprint. Embryos, in their first weeks, develop structures with ...
Type 1 diabetes is caused by eating too much sugar, and four other myths about the disease
According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, 34.2 million Americans had diabetes in 2018. Of those, only 1.6 ...
Video: How will CRISPR and other forms of gene editing revolutionize our world?
Gene editing has the potential to eliminate genetic diseases and save lives. But one scientist has crossed an ethical line ...
Who were the first Caribbean populations? Ancient DNA rewrites history
An international team led by Harvard Medical School’s David Reich analyzed the genomes of 263 individuals in the largest study of ancient ...
‘Exercised’: New book by a biological anthropologist says humans are cut out to nap, not exercise – Here’s how we can overcome our evolutionary destiny
Want to feel bad about skipping a workout? Blame evolution. Daniel E. Lieberman argues this theory in his new book ...
Video: Is lying an innate human trait?
Everyone lies. Even you and even me. We lie about small things and we lie about big things. We lie ...
Gene editing: Playing God or repairing a ‘natural system’ that has gone haywire?
With CRISPR, biologists have already created—among many, many other living things—ants that can’t smell, beagles that put on superhero-like brawn, ...
Why grandmothers might be a driving force behind human evolution
[Kristen] Hawkes, a professor of anthropology at the University of Utah, has extensively studied the Hadza, a group of hunter-gatherers ...
How DNA and genetic genealogy helped catch one of the world’s most notorious murderers, the Golden State Killer
The dramatic arrest in 2018 of Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. was all the more astounding because of how detectives said ...
Acting rash or unwise? Don’t blame your ‘lizard brain’, claims ‘Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain’ book
Scientists have long posited that time and evolution stratified the human brain, with the oldest and crudest lizard layer lurking ...
Video: Why mosquitoes choose you
Only female mosquitoes suck blood since they need it to produce their eggs. Knowing how a potentially disease-carrying female mosquito ...
Book review: Who knew the world of paleoanthropology could be so cutthroat?
[T]he scientists looking for ever older bones of our ancestors always seem to be squabbling. At least that’s their reputation ...
Are women superior to men? Research suggests most of us are more likely to believe that sex differences favor females
In [a new] study, 492 participants — most of whom resided in the United States, the United Kingdom, or Canada ...
Want to breed a horse that’s disease free and can run faster? CRISPR may offer that possibility
Argentine researchers have successfully edited the genes in an equine embryo, raising the possibility of producing horses with custom-designed DNA ...
400 children worldwide are born each year with ‘fast-aging disease’ – Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome. Now CRISPR offers hope
[R]esults from a new study have inspired hope for treating children born with progeria, a rare, fatal, genetic disease that ...
Vegetarianism might be in your genes: Study suggests genetic predisposition to a meat-free diet
Analysis of the genomes of British vegetarians found a link between their rejection of meat and mutations in their DNA ...
Cave bears: Neanderthals may have survived harsh winters by hibernating
Evidence from bones found at one of the world’s most important fossil sites suggests that our hominid predecessors may have ...
Athletic boost? A year after starting hormone treatments, transgender women still have an advantage over cisgender peers
A new study suggests transgender women maintain an athletic advantage over their cisgender peers even after a year on hormone ...
How honest are you? When do you think it’s okay to deceive? It may be hard-wired
Humans are a social species. There is pretty compelling evidence that without cooperation, people are much less likely to survive ...
Mosquitoes are one of humanity’s most dangerous enemies. Here’s how synthetic biology might lead to a long-lasting repellant
Vector-borne diseases, such as malaria, dengue, and Zika, are pathogens that can be transmitted through the bite of an insect ...
Colonizing Mars? Here’s the technology we need to make that happen
Though it is the most livable non-Earth planet within our grasp, Mars is brutally hostile to life: It is as cold as Antarctica, ...
CRISPR, forests and climate change: Gene editing poised to engineer faster growing, carbon sucking trees—if activists don’t block it
For years, scientists have recommended planting more trees to fight climate change. With more trees, the rate of photosynthesis will ...
Will gene editing human embryos ever be safe?
Debates continue about whether the societal risks of heritable genome editing are too great to proceed, as do calls for ...
Genetic genealogy launched 20 years ago with a whimper. Here’s where we are now
Lots of people have had more time to focus on genealogy in 2020, so let’s take a look at what’s ...
