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: Aborted fetus debris in malaria vaccines? RFK, Jr.’s latest fabrication
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a bizarre new “explanation” for the deadly measles outbreak sweeping western Texas. According to public health experts, the ...
In a courtroom first, AI brings a road rage victim back to life to confront his murderer. What happened?
For two years, Stacey Wales kept a running list of everything she would say at the sentencing hearing for the ...
How might humans evolve if we colonized Mars
[H]ow will our fragile Earth-borne bodies react if we were to live on another planet like Mars? ... Even if ...
Viewpoint: Sociogenomics—Challenging the ethics of IQ-based gene selection
[A] US start-up that offers eugenic embryo selection. Heliospect Genomics aims to enable wealthy couples to select the “most intelligent” ...
‘Massive breakthrough’: In breakthrough microsurgery, surgeons use an abdomen blood vessel to reconstruct breasts
A patient who had pioneering breast reconstruction surgery said she took part ‘for all the women who will come after ...
Florida becomes 2nd state to ban fluoride in drinking water with 4 other states mulling legislation
Florida has become the latest state to restrict fluoride additives in public drinking water, after Governor Ron DeSantis signed the ...
RFK, Jr.’s MAHA ‘chronic disease epidemic’ tsunami sweeps across America
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again movement, which focuses on ending what President Donald Trump's health secretary calls the “chronic disease epidemic,” ...
Gene therapy offers hope for people with rare, exorbitantly-expensive-to-treat diseases
[S]tunning advances in genetic science have revealed the subtle, insidious culprits behind [rare genetic] diseases and have started paving the ...
Viewpoint: Is drinking water harmful? Activist paper demonstrates how science can be twisted to open the door to tort claims
The drinking water treatment process is designed to remove harmful pathogens that are prevalent in nature, but a new study ...
Most mammals are hairy. Why not humans?
Humans are members of a weirdly exclusive club of mostly naked mammals, sharing that honorable distinction with the likes of ...
Girls physically mature years earlier than boys. Does that mean they develop faster cognitively, too?
“It has long been known that girls reach puberty earlier than boys, that they become physically mature earlier. However, we ...
Keeping sewers clean: Subterranean drones are thankfully replacing human workers
The key to preventing [sewer related] disasters ... is regular inspection of sewer lines, hunting down any cracks and fissures ...
Viewpoint: ‘It could sicken millions and kill many’—Massive anti-vaccine disinformation activists intensify their propaganda campaign
A long-running nationwide brainwashing campaign, conducted in plain sight, now comes to its deadly culmination. The predictable consequence—reviving a preventable childhood disease ...
Viewpoint: The science of reversing aging remains little more than a dream. Here’s why
The dream of reversing aging has captivated humans for centuries, and today science is closer than it ever has been ...
Viewpoint: ‘I do my own research’—RFK, Jr.’s. let’s his mask slip, rejoins the Qanon, Elvis-is-alive wing of vaccine rejectionists
["D]o your own research,” which for years became a catchphrase mostly for the woo-woo set of America — the Elvis-is-alive ...
AI models often promote stereotypes. Now there is a program that exposes biases
[A] new dataset [Margaret Mitchell] helped create [tests] how AI models continue perpetuating stereotypes. Unlike most bias-mitigation efforts that prioritize ...
‘It’s not a eureka solution’: RFK, Jr.’s NIH kills funding for future COVID vaccines to support controversial longshot ‘universal’ shot
In a shift away from next-generation Covid-19 vaccines, the Trump administration is investing $500 million in a vaccine project championed ...
‘If our genetic differences are part of what makes us human, do we have the right — or the responsibility — to change them?
With CRISPR technology, scientists can now edit both somatic genes (from the body) and germline genes (from gametes, the sex cells ...
Trump brain drain: 3/4 of American scientists say they’re considering leaving the U.S. to pursue their work.
"We may very well see, as a result of what's happened in these dramatic few months, a reverse brain drain, ...
The octopus within us: Cephalopods and humans share genes that began shaping intelligence dating back 518 million years
New research suggests that octopuses and humans may share an ancient evolutionary connection that helps explain the remarkable intelligence of cephalopods. According to findings discussed ...
Should we be concerned about low birth rates in the most developed countries?
"Societies experiencing falling birth rates and an increasing elderly population will eventually need to shift resources and labour from caring ...
Symbol of Injustice and the culture wars: Volleyball trans athlete and her teammates are caught in the middle
Blaire Fleming, a senior, was a starter for the San Jose State University Spartans. For most of her college career, ...
The ‘fertilization president’ guts CDC IVF research
The elimination of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Assisted Reproductive Technology Surveillance team ... shocked public health experts ...
Synthetic biology may be the only way to survive and thrive on Mars and beyond
A field known as synthetic biology has become one of the most highly anticipated in science. Its outputs range from ...
Viewpoint: In response to Conservative critics, Iowa is dumbing down school curriculum science standards
Iowa’s current draft of its K-12 science standards, which include changing the word “evolution” to “biological change over time” drew ...
Trying to kick your vaping habit: FDA approves pill that actually works
Teens and young adults who took varenicline — an FDA-approved, twice-daily smoking cessation pill for adults — are more than ...
‘Holding back scientific process’: Chinese scientist widely condemned for gene-hacking a baby attacks what he calls naive ethical standards
It's been nearly three years since controversial Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui was released from prison for gene-hacking human babies — and ...
