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.
Viewpoint: If 23andMe has your DNA, don’t panic, your privacy is not in danger
As word spread last year that 23andMe was about to go bankrupt, many of their millions of customers wondered if ...
As recently as 40,000 years ago, as many as 5 ancient human species lived alongside us. Only we survived
We may be the only human species alive today, but just a few hundred thousand years ago there was a ...
From reassurance to rollbacks, RFK Jr.’s first months on vaccine policy
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised before his confirmation that he would not take away Americans’ vaccines. But ...
CRISPR takes on the challenge of rare genetic diseases
Rare genetic diseases are challenging for patients and their families—made all the more overwhelming because symptoms tend to appear soon ...
Kennedy poised to dismantle U.S.-supported system of evidence-based medicine and mental health wellness
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent takeover of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee was alarming enough. Now ...
When does aging begin to accelerate? Earlier than most people think
A groundbreaking new study has revealed that your body doesn’t age in a straight line. Instead, it hits a sudden ...
Rfk, Jr. guts U.S. support for mRNA vaccines that target bird flu, human flu and coronaviruses, falsely claiming they are dangerous despite decades of safe use
The US is making swingeing mRNA development cuts, hugely deprioritising a Nobel Prize-winning field of research widely lauded for its ...
Keeping your brain young and slowing cognitive decline as you age
Scientists have unveiled the strongest evidence yet that a combination of diet, exercise and brain training can improve thinking and ...
Rating the top 70+ AI tools from best to worst
This guide is the result of hundreds of hours spent signing up, testing features, running real workflows, and figuring out ...
Viewpoint: As Earth’s temperatures reach record and accelerating highs, EPA rejects the science
“There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. Human activity is the principal cause.” Those two ...
‘Doing your own research’ using AI? Watch out for hallucinations, delusions and misinformation
As a result of such immersive interactions with AI chatbots, many people are said to have “lost jobs, destroyed marriages ...
Some early ancient humans were cannibals and ate children
Archaeologists discovered new evidence of cannibalism among early human ancestors at the Gran Dolina cave site in northern Spain. The ...
Directed evolution: We can now speed up evolution inside human cells by decades
Inspired by the generative abilities of AI, directed evolution, a biological system that works much like machine learning, can actually be ...
Can gene editing eliminate Down syndrome? Scientists have done it in lab-grown cells
Could Down syndrome one day be corrected at the cellular level? Japanese scientists may have taken an extraordinary step toward ...
Viewpoint: A skeptical view of the still far-fetched idea of human cloning
At least 25 species have now been cloned, and variants on the technology are still being developed: The recent “de-extinction” of ...
Low testosterone? GLP-1 weight loss drugs boost male hormone levels by almost 50% even without weight loss
GLP-1 anti-obesity medications are linked with improvements in testosterone levels and health outcomes for men with obesity or type 2 ...
Silicon Valley ‘superbabies’: Elon Musk and other investors claim genetic screening nothing more than a genetic trust fund
[Noor Siddiqui's] company, San Francisco-based Orchid Health, screens embryos for thousands of potential future illnesses, letting prospective parents plan their ...
Viewpoint: Tort lawyers are partnering with environmental groups and profiteering off of junk science
In recent years, an alarming trend has emerged in civil tort litigation. Attorneys are increasingly relying on questionable studies and ...
Longevity medicine: Exploitation or an innovative approach to health?
Establishing a new discipline of medicine is no mean feat. Longevity doctors have started to make progress by establishing learning ...
Woke AI: Trump shifts monitoring focus from chemical and biological weapons to rooting out ‘political correctness’
When the Biden administration created an “A.I. Safety Institute” two years ago, its charge was to act as a kind ...
Genes and sports: Europeans are far more likely than any other population group–especially Africans–to carry a Neanderthal mutation that limits their ability to become top athletes
Scientists have uncovered a genetic variant, inherited from Neanderthals, that may limit athletic performance. The mutation is thought to affect ...
Human intelligence genes linked to cancer
A study led by Dr. LI Chuanyun from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of ...
‘Three parent babies’ aren’t new. Here is what science has accomplished so far
[E]ight babies have been born in the UK following an experimental form of IVF that involves DNA from three people ...
Climate change is pushing more and more species towards extinction. Gene editing may be a savior
Gene editing technologies, such as those used in agriculture and de-extinction efforts, can be repurposed to provide what an international ...
How to stop malaria-spreading mosquitoes? If approved, gene editing could do it
Each year, 263 million people get malaria. But from the parasite's perspective, infecting humans is harder than you might think, ...
Universal cancer vaccine? mRNA technology is promising
An experimental mRNA vaccine that supercharges existing cancer treatments could be laying the groundwork for a “universal” cancer vaccine, according ...
Could AI avatars replace some frontline healthcare workers? That’s Dr. Oz’s plan
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the new administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), spent much of his first ...
