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: Failing RFK, Jr.’s science undermines U.S. innovation and opens the door to Chinese dominance
Since Dr. Vinay Prasad’s appointment as a key political voice within FDA, the tone of U.S. biotech policy has shifted from enabling ...
Tripping your way to better mental health?
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST: [I]t seemed like there might finally be an opening for psychedelics to become a part of the ...
Why are detectable rates of autism soaring in the U.S. but holding steady in other countries with a history of far better screening? It’s not vaccines or chemicals but ‘diagnosis inflation’
Almost every week, it seems, we read news of some new epidemic — medical, psychological, social. Taken together, these alarming ...
Early life trauma can ‘program’ children’s brains for a life of aggression
Aggression isn’t just a behavioral issue—it has deep neurobiological roots, especially when shaped by early-life trauma. New research is investigating ...
Viewpoint: What’s the long-term impact of Trump’s attacks on universities
“I have not experienced, across 46 years of higher education, a period where there’s been this much distance” between the ...
‘Feel Free’: People getting addicted to this addictive ‘botanical’ supplement drink with kava root and kratom, and regulators are doing nothing
Feel Free’s most well-known variant — the “Classic” tonic made by the company Botanic Tonics, which also makes a “Kava ...
Viewpoint: RFK Jr.’s FDA fake review of fluoride supplements with already announced plan to ban them is terrible science
Extensively studied over decades, fluoride has been scientifically validated for its effectiveness in reducing dental cavities, particularly in children. It ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
