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.
‘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 ...
Viewpoint: Natalcon—Behind the scenes at the rightwing conference advancing a strategy to surge government support for increasing the U.S. birthrate
Widespread concern about falling birth rates has prompted some to politically organize around reversing their decline. Representatives of this pronatalist movement ...
2000%? RFK, Jr. claims that chronic disease in the U.S. has skyrocketed in 20 years. Here’s why that’s absurd
“We’ve got the highest chronic disease burden of any country in the world. When my uncle was president, 3 percent ...
Animals have developed a mind-boggling variety of ways to become male or female.
[S]o far, researchers have uncovered a dizzying array of exceptions to the XX/XY “rule:” birds and butterflies that use the ZW system, in ...
Leveraging RFK, Jr. vaccine disinformation, anti-vaccine grifters blame measles on bioweapons, sell fake ‘AI created’ supplement cures
Anti-vaccine activists with close ties to US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are falsely claiming that the measles public health ...
Here’s a visual tour of what makes the human brain distinct from our ape relatives
The human brain isn't just distinguished by its problem-solving abilities. It's also designed to deeply process emotions and social interactions, ...
Less than 1,300—Our human ancestors were on the verge of extinction one million years ago
[A] groundbreaking study published in the journal Science sheds new light on a dramatic event that nearly erased humans from existence ...
Does pornography alter your brain?
Statistics show pornography to be commonplace: A 2018 study found that 91.5% of men and 60.2% of women had consumed it ...
Viewpoint: Surging anti-immigration sentiment helps revive America’s eugenicist impulses
In a moment when the experiment of the United States is teetering on the brink, the Trump administration is weaponizing ...
AI race: Can Europe catch up to China and the U.S.?
In October 2024, Jensen Huang, the CEO of AI chipmaker Nvidia, commented that the European Union (EU) lags far behind the U.S ...
Cancer death rates continue their quarter century decline, but ethnic disparities remain
Progress has been made in reducing overall cancer mortality, largely driven by sustained declines in lung cancer. Cancer mortality declined ...
‘Super horses’: Newly engineered gene-edited equestrian racers are faster and more agile
[S]cientists are using the technology to improve traits in domestic animals. Argentina’s scientists have recently achieved a groundbreaking milestone in ...
Convergent evolution: How complex brains developed independently in humans, birds and reptiles
Fernando García-Moreno is an evolutionary and developmental neurobiologist. He says for a long time there's been a debate about how ...
Anorexia cases in the U.S. have doubled in recent years, and treatments remain elusive
Over 10,000 Americans die from eating disorders every year, according to the National Association for Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. Such prolonged ...
(Positive) eugenics is increasingly fashionable — The movement for gene manipulation is soaring among those who can afford it
In the United States, despite more than $1 billion invested in fertility-focused start-ups in the past decade, there is remarkably ...
Biotechnology breakthroughs in medicine surge
Biotech breakthroughs are lighting up new ways to care for our health. Researchers are using smart ideas, from gene editing ...
The Longevity Business Is Booming—and Its Scientists Are Clashing”
[Leonard Guarente's pet field of improving human longevity] has moved from the fringes to science’s hot center. It’s drawn billions ...
