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.
What did a woman in present-day Belgium look like 10,500 years ago? DNA draws us a picture
With DNA extracted from the body’s remains, researchers have reconstructed the face of a woman who lived approximately 10,500 years ...
‘Three parent baby’ medical first: Male sperm and eggs from two women combined to create an embryo free from inherited mitochondrial disease
Mitochondrial disorders can cause serious health problems, including paralysis, heart failure, brain damage, strokes and blindness. ... The disorders are ...
More evidence that intelligence is mostly genetic
Brain dynamics and cognition share genetic roots. Criticality may guide future brain health research. A recent study published on June ...
Putting faces on the human tree of life: From Hobbit to 300,000 year old humans, here’s what we looked like
Now, scientists have revealed the most scientifically accurate reconstructions of what those ancient humans would have looked like. This includes ...
Will deadly measles outbreaks become the new normal?
There have now been more measles cases in 2025 than in any other year since the contagious virus was declared ...
UK commits within 10 years to screening all newborn babies for genetic diseases
Every baby in England is to have a DNA screening to avoid fatal diseases and receive personalised healthcare as part of the ...
More evidence that autism is genetic and potentially treatable
Researchers at Princeton University and the Simons Foundation have identified four clinically and biologically distinct subtypes of autism, marking a ...
Republicans in Congress and RFK, Jr. find common ground in using psychedelics to treat traumatized veterans
Driven by a desire to help ex-servicemembers with mental illness, GOP lawmakers led a failed campaign last year to persuade the Biden ...
Viewpoint: Radioactive drips, urine and snake venom — MAHA-inspired huckster biohackers endorse bizarre (and expensive) life-extension experiments
Welcome to Dave Asprey’s 2025 Biohacking Conference: a symposium of tech bros, wellness influencers, psychonauts, and scientists, all hoping to thwart the ravages ...
Is Elon Musk’s Grok-4 AI anti-semitic?
In a series of posts on X, the AI chatbot Grok apologized for what it admitted was "horrific behavior." The ...
Myths and facts about using cannabis to treat health problems
There’s ... substantial evidence that [cannabis] may ease nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy and may help control muscle spasms ...
Digital therapies for smartphone addicts
[A] person hoping to reclaim their attention is trapped between two unappealing choices: downgrade to a minimalist “dumb phone,” or ...
Viewpoint: Jim O’Neill: The controversial longevity promoter and now RFK, Jr.’s second in command stirs worry in the public health community
As Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new right-hand man, [Jim] O’Neill is expected to wield authority at health agencies that fund ...
Sustainable drugs: Your pain killer pills may soon be made from plastic waste
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have succeeded in transforming certain plastic waste into acetaminophen using the natural properties of the ...
After Trump-ordered cuts, what’s left of USAID?
As the United States Agency for International Development was being dismantled in early February, aid workers and officials in Washington ...
Wisconsin’s liberal Supreme Court bans rightwing attempt to legalize gay conversion therapy
The Wisconsin Supreme Court cleared the way Tuesday for the state to permanently enact a ban on conversion therapy in a ruling ...
The antivax Amish are RFK, Jr. supporters’ latest poster child for science rejectionism
Unfortunately, the Amish have become the poster child for the anti-vax movement...The implication is that vaccines are not needed, since ...
Planned Parenthood’s precarious future
Planned Parenthood, the massive, 108-year-old network of women’s and reproductive health clinics that operates almost 600 health centers across the United States, ...
AI agents are fast gaining autonomy. What could go right and wrong?
LLM agents don’t have much of a track record yet, but to hear CEOs tell it, they will transform the ...
RFK, Jr., other vaccine skeptics claim children get too many shots too soon. Here are the facts
In 1986, a typical child was recommended to receive 11 vaccine doses — seven injections and four oral. Today, that ...
Even though AI tools like ChatGPT are free to use, they come at a high environmental cost
"The difference between using Google as a search engine and ChatGPT is that ChatGPT uses ten times more energy," says ...
Viewpoint: Gay journalist explains how gay quest for equal rights has been subverted by queer radicals
...Gay marriage is backed by around 70 percent of Americans, and discrimination against gay men, lesbians and transgender people is opposed by ...
Viewpoint: Is it possible to reconcile RFK, Jr.’s wacky health conspiracy theories with his genuine commitment to improve public health?
The most powerful public health official in the US has made it his mission to tackle what he describes as ...
‘AI deskilling’: What are the policy implications of a surge in the ‘knowledge economy’
The US, like other developed economies, is dominated by services...Many of these jobs, particularly the higher-skilled ones, are found in ...
Viewpoint: The junk science consequences of RFK, Jr.’s attack on respected, scrupulously peer-reviewed academic science journals
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has threatened to prevent government scientists from publishing their work in leading medical ...
Why evolution hasn’t eliminated human susceptibility to depression as it has for other diseases
Depression feels weird compared to things like fear or anger, which help us survive by warning us of danger or pushing us into action ...
‘Designer baby’ startup: Controversal germline editing company Bootstrap Bio raising money for germline gene editing launch
A California-startup focused on genetically editing human embryos — a step toward creating so-called designer babies — is raising money ...
