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: Brace yourself–Here is how some universities prepare students to become sex therapists
What began as a simple accommodation request in a required course called Human Sexuality turned into a case study in ...
Meet Elsa: FDA embraces controversial AI bot to help evaluate drugs, medical devices and chemicals in food
FDA leaders say artificial intelligence has the potential to “radically increase efficiency” when analysing the vast volumes of data—often more ...
TikTok skin care advice for kids and teens isn’t just mostly wrong, it could damage your skin
A recent trend in video-based online content features girls as young as 7 years demonstrating multistep skin care regimens, which ...
Viewpoint: How to stop RFK, Jr.’s decimation of vaccination programs
When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was appointed secretary of Health and Human Services, some hoped that the responsibility of public ...
Swallowing risk: The hidden dangers 7 of America’s most popular supplements
Three in four Americans take at least one dietary supplement, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Many people take ...
Appreciating music: What are the evolutionary links between humans and other animals
Historically, many thought that humans were the only animals that could recognize an external beat and synchronously move to it ...
Near-death experiences: Conversations with the Creator?
They leave their bodies, witness a bright light and return forever changed. But do survivors of near-death experiences [NDEs] truly ...
What is ‘therapy speak’ and why is its proliferation so dangerous?
Psychiatric diagnosis has taken on a new role in public life. Turbocharged by social media, “therapy speak” has permeated every ...
What causes ‘mind blanking’?
Researchers think that our minds are blank somewhere between 5 and 20 percent of the time ... Athena Demertzi, a cognitive neuroscientist ...
A promising annual shot might provide long term protection against HIV
Every year, my colleagues and I put together a list of what we think are the top 10 breakthrough technologies ...
‘Mutational discrimination’: Gene editing medical innovations are leaving out people with rare diseases
Stunning advances in genetic science have revealed the subtle, insidious culprits behind these brutal [rare genetic] diseases and have started ...
Viewpoint: With science and medicine under assault, more people turn to search and social media for guidance. That’s scary
[T]he authority of medical experts has crumbled under the combined weight of disillusionment and the flood of information now available ...
Viewpoint: What impact will Trump’s budget cuts have on U.S. ability to track and adapt to climate change
Over the last few months, … there’s been an explosion of news about proposed budget cuts to science in the ...
Viewpoint: High IQ vs. Low IQ—America’s legacy of eugenics
[T]he morning after a tragic midair collision in Washington, DC, between a military helicopter and an American Airlines plane, President ...
Profiling the people now guiding America’s health policy
When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became health secretary, he didn’t just bring with him an unconventional and controversial approach to ...
AI activists rethink their strategy, focusing on the future of work
[Recently] the AI Now Institute, a think tank that studies the social implications of artificial intelligence, published a sweeping report ...
The disabled, the elderly and the poor: Trump administration flirts with eugenics
Trump has deployed in his administration and in his relationships with billionaires a group of the old and new eugenicists ...
Viewpoint: Time to put limits on lawyers targeting corporations for huge legal payouts
In response to several bills introduced in both the US House and Senate seeking to put limits and disclosures on ...
Biotech companies are pioneering research to use electricity to cure diseases. Here’s how
Electricity is gaining newfound traction as a potential treatment for diseases, from rheumatoid arthritis to hard-to-treat cancers including glioblastoma and ...
AI hallucinations: They’re getting worse
More than two years after the arrival of ChatGPT, tech companies, office workers and everyday consumers are using A.I. bots ...
RFK Jr. stacks purged vaccine committee with ‘covid contrarians’
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. named eight people to the influential federal panel that recommends vaccines ...
Sperm donor with cancer-prone mutation conceived at least 67 children across Europe
The sperm of a man carrying a rare cancer-causing mutation was used to conceive at least 67 children, 10 of ...
Biology junkie? Here are some great summer reads
One of my favorite summer chores is finding a new book to take from the beach to the pool. ...
Electric respiration: Bacteria that ‘breathe’ electricity could revolutionize wastewater treatment and biomanufacturing
A team led by Rice University bioscientist Caroline Ajo-Franklin has discovered how certain bacteria breathe by generating electricity, using a natural ...
Risk averse, precautionary Europe is missing out on the technology revolution
The world’s technology revolution is leaving Europe behind. Europe lacks any homegrown alternatives to the likes of Google, Amazon or Meta. Apple’s market value is ...
Gene editing embryos: Crypto billionaire Brian Armstrong funding ethically controversial project
Brian Armstrong, the billionaire CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, says he’s ready to fund a US startup focused on ...
FaceAge AI uses snapshots to predict biological age and help oncologists tailor treatments
A new artificial intelligence tool developed by researchers at Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School uses a snapshot of a patient’s face to ...
