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.
Stem cells, CRISPR/Cas9 explored for possible HIV treatment
“Berlin Patient” Timothy Brown was cured of HIV after he received stem cells from a patient naturally immune to the ...
Contamination of DNA samples by microbes confounds
You’ve got a group of people with a mysterious disease, and you suspect that some microbe might be responsible. You ...
In Ebola drug trials, who receives treatment?
With clinical trials of experimental Ebola treatments set to begin in December, public-health officials face a major ethical quandary: should ...
What brain science has and has not revealed, so far
Research on the brain is surging. The United States and the European Union have launched new programs to better understand ...
Device allows people to alter mouse genes through mind control
Scientists have created a mind-control system that allows a person to alter the genes in a mouse through the power ...
Cost benefits of cancer screenings get political in the UK
Cancer screening have helped save many of lives, but have shifted the demographics of who gets the disease. Should we ...
Fatal Retraction: Downside of early cancer detection
Google recently promised to develop early-detection technology for cancer, heart disease and strokes. While early diagnosis might seem like a ...
Food Babe flops on BRCA mutations: Understand genetics or go home
Charlatans like Food Babe, Dr. Oz, Joseph Mercola, and Vandana Shiva represent everything disgraceful about unscientific propaganda. Cancer misinformation is ...
EO Wilson, Richard Dawkins renew clash over evolution
The war of words between the biologists EO Wilson and Richard Dawkins has reignited after the Harvard professor described his ...
Google to start offering DNA tests to employees with cancer
Google will soon start covering the cost of Foundation Medicine's DNA tests for employees and their family-members suffering from cancer, ...
Embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells both carry similar DNA mutations
A team led by New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute scientists conducted a study comparing induced pluripotent stem ...
Newly discovered ancient human skeleton contains lost Neanderthal DNA
Another week, another ancient human genome. We just recently covered the oldest modern human genome yet described. Now, another paper ...
Is oxytocin really the ‘love hormone’? Maybe not, says new study
I'm writing a new textbook on introductory statistics, and I decided to include an example based on Paul Zak's intriguing ...
Can scientists derive a cure for Ebola from blood of survivors?
A group of scientists including three Nobel laureates in medicine has proposed that U.S. health officials chart a new path ...
Dangers of over-diagnosing a disease
Historically, the science of epidemiology was directed toward identifying and controlling epidemics of infectious disease. In a study just published ...
For brain damaged man, smartphone is prosthetic memory device
You wouldn't guess from having a face-to-face conversation with Dixon that his brain is damaged. That's because nothing about his ...
UK Parliament votes to ban abortion on basis of sex
MPs have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion declaring that sex-selection abortion is illegal. They voted 181 to 1 ...
How much does the public actually care about brain science?
It feels to me like interest in the brain has exploded. I’ve seen huge investments in brain science by the ...
Rationalizing health risks difficult, especially when emotions in play
From Ebola to breast cancer screenings, people have a difficult time understanding where their health risks truly lie. Our emotional ...
Should you get a mastectomy when a BRCA mutation is detected?
Before I was scheduled for a double mastectomy at the age of 60, I knew I was infinitely blessed: The ...
Mothers’ breast milk transfers important signals to baby
Milk is not just food. The more closely scientists examine it, the more complexity they find. Along with nutrients like ...
Google developing nanotechnology to detect cancer
Last week, U.S. tech giants Google made a splash in the media, announcing plans to develop new ‘disease-detecting magnetic nanoparticles’ ...
Little-known microbe may profoundly effect our guts
The twisting helices of DNA within our bodies influence everything from our height to our personality to risk of diseases ...
Evolutionary origins of genitalia unveiled
When the first animals scrambled out of the water to live on land, they needed limbs and lungs. And something ...
Stem cell therapy may be effective treatment for Parkinson’s disease
Stem cells can be used to heal the damage in the brain caused by Parkinson's disease, according to scientists in ...
Are Fluffy and Fido key to anti-aging research?
Dogs may join yeast and mice as candidates for large scale studies investigating drugs that may one day solve age-related ...
Snake species responsible for bite identified using DNA test
To treat victims of snakebites, it's important to know which type of snake did the biting. Now, a new test ...
