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.
Pipeline drugs for ovarian cancer will genetically match patients
September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. You might not notice. Ovarian cancer shares the back-to-school educational National Health Observances slot with ...
Retracted STAP stem cell papers first rejected at another journal; reviewers’ comments now public
Before the two STAP cell papers were published in Nature in January of 2014, much of the same data was ...
What CRISPR gene editing means for San Fran biotech
A new way to make powerful changes at will to the DNA of humans, other animals and plants, much like ...
Beyond evolution, transhumanists’ visions for the human race
Homo sapiens were not always so special. In the ancient past, other human forms lived beside us. The Neanderthals in ...
Playing God: An unapolgetic transhumanist manifesto
If you've ever fantasised about uploading your mind to the internet, or gestating your genetically modified children in an artificial ...
Grandma’s diet and diabetes: Epigenetic link found again
As with so much in science, this story owes a lot to mice. The tale begins with a pregnant mouse ...
All tumors should be genotyped. Why aren’t they?
There are huge benefits to genomic tumor assessment, both for better treatment now, and later, if first-line treatments fail. But ...
Sperm contains dad’s lifestyle information alongside basic genetic material
Since I'm a guy, this may sound weird, but I've always found sperm to be pretty boring as cells. You ...
Genetics of intelligence: many, many genes with tiny effects
The explanation of the inheritance of intelligence has long been studied, but without any blockbuster results. A new study adds ...
Addiction: How our genes program our preferences and habits
Just 11 genes successfully identify who is likely to have problems with alcohol abuse and who will not. Does this ...
Eye disease patient to be first treated with adult stem cells
A Japanese patient with a debilitating eye disease is about to become the first person to be treated with induced ...
Early autism interventions, before 12 months, appear effective
Early interventions may be effective at treating the symptoms of autism in very young infants, according to a pilot study ...
Replication errors a boon for flu virus’ quick mutations
Scientists have demonstrated that the influenza A virus makes use of its error-prone genetic replication to increase diversity, thereby facilitating ...
How will evolution and technology interact in the future of the human species?
Will our bodies evolve to eliminate age-related diseases or will we use technology to change our bodies before that happens? ...
World Health Organization accelerates program to test Ebola drugs
Science to the rescue in West Africa? The World Health Organization is launching a crash programme to test experimental treatments ...
Bat brains help tell us how processing works in our own
When you’re driving a car, you pass by people, places, colors and shapes. Suddenly, you see one particular combination of ...
Australian court agrees with U.S.: Patents for breast cancer mutations stand
Cancer survivors and advocates are devastated at a decision by the full bench of the Federal Court that private companies ...
Lightning strikes donated energy to ‘primordial soup’ that became life
In the early 1950s, a chemist named Stanley Miller mixed up a bunch of gases including methane, ammonia and hydrogen. That's ...
New growth standards for infants ignore natural genetic variation
Babies come in all shapes and sizes – or so you might imagine. But according to new international growth charts, ...
Immunotherapy represents an entirely new strategy for cancer treatments
Most cancers, once they spread, are incurable. Cancer researchers are desperate to raise the number of patients who go into ...
Personal genetics consumers risk uncovering uncertain paternity
Personal genomics products continue to have unintended consequences that end either in joyous occasion, but often times also come with ...
First cancer drug that turn off body’s immune system proteins approved
U.S. regulators on Thursday approved the first drug in a new class of cancer medicines that work by stimulating the ...
Genetic factors make women more susceptible to Alzheimer’s disease than men
Years ago, many scientists assumed that a woman’s heart worked pretty much the same as a man’s. But as more ...
Who owns your DNA? It’s not who you think
Recent court cases show the law favors hospitals and law enforcement rather than individuals when it comes to handing genomic ...
Ricin, botulism toxin and plague found in latest NIH deep clean
The National Institutes of Health said it has uncovered a nearly century-old container of ricin and a handful of other ...
Common childhood kidney cancer sequenced, offering treatment target
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Gill Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children's Medical Center, Dallas, ...
‘DNA evidence’ uncovers Jack the Ripper’s identity? Maybe not
According to a WORLD EXCLUSIVE at The Daily Mail, the mystery of Jack the Ripper's identity has been solved by ...
