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.
Adult stem cells made into insulin producing cells
For the second time in recent weeks researchers said they used cloning technology on adult tissue, rather than from a ...
Open-source Personal Genome Project looks at all aspects of human experience
Abigail Wark wants to see your areolas. But only if you are a participant in the Personal Genome Project, a ...
Effect of large mammal extinction: Humans become preferred vectors
Save the Rhinos! Save the Elephants! Save the humans?! It seems strange to be connecting our own fate to that ...
DNA test claims to determine village of origin of our ancestors
For centuries, scientists have sought a biological method for tracing a person's geographic origin. Now, a group of researchers has ...
Pre-conception diet affects child’s DNA
A woman's diet at the time of conception might cause lasting changes in the DNA of her children, potentially influencing ...
Privacy for our electronic genomes: Who’s responsible? What’s at stake?
The level of security and anonymity provided to genetic information depends on the research project, direct to consumer company or ...
Drug developed first in mice may help elderly keep muscle mass
In 1997, scientist Se-Jin Lee genetically engineered "Mighty Mice" with twice as much muscle as regular rodents. Now, pharmaceutical companies ...
Neanderthals and modern humans: It’s personal
I never met my paternal grandfather. He died of the Spanish flu in 1919 at the age of 30, before ...
Stem cell scientist outlines his top five challeges for embryonic stem cell nuclear transfer
It was intriguing last week to read about another advance in somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT)-based therapeutic cloning of human ...
‘Electronic genomes’ vulnerable to attack
In a digital world, even our most sensitive information is vulnerable to hacking. In the case of DNA, people can ...
Engineered skin cells may replace animals in cosmetic testing
An advanced 3D skin model developed at King's College London (KCL) may reduce the need for animal models in cosmetic ...
Stem cell trial for ALS patients approved
BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the start of a mid-stage clinical trial of its ...
DNA contamination implicates suspect in murder committed after death
It was a real-life mystery that could have come straight from the pages of a modern-day detective novel. A woman ...
Gene threapy postdoc guilty of misconduct, has six papers retracted
A former postdoc who studied gene therapy at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York is guilty of ...
Population size may be clue to why Neanderthals suffered and Neo-African humans survived
A new paper in PNAS, Patterns of coding variation in the complete exomes of three Neandertals, reiterates what seems to ...
Lamark redux: Is epigenetics rewriting his legacy?
Evolutionary biologist Josh Mitteldorf looks back on the discredited scientist's views of evolution in light of our new knowledge of ...
DNA test for cervical cancer gets FDA approval
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the first alternative to the long-used Pap test as a primary screening ...
Smithsonian exhibit releases online animated visualizaton of human genome
Using disarmingly simple animations of 2-D people, animals, and molecules, Sanan transmits more information about DNA and the human genome ...
DNA confirms artifact is not match for Louis XVI
Two centuries after the French people beheaded King Louis XVI and dipped their handkerchiefs in his blood, DNA analysis has ...
Building a genomic encyclopedia of life
A genomic tree-of-life is the taxonomist's dream: a perfectly organized, annotated database of every species on earth, its genetics, and ...
Rare Turkish neurodegenerative disorder caused by a single mutation
International teams of researchers using advanced gene sequencing technology have uncovered a single genetic mutation responsible for a rare brain ...
Tsetse fly genome decoded, may offer target for sleeping sickness prevention and therapies
Public-health workers are one step closer to stamping out a debilitating and potentially fatal disease known as sleeping sickness following ...
Genetic advantage may be why farming societies displaced hunter-gatherers
How did farming take over the world? One theory is that farming was such an evidently good idea that it ...
Mind uploading won’t work becaues consciousness can’t be transferred
Uploading one's mind into a computer, a concept popularized by the 2014 movie Transcendence starring Johnny Depp, is likely to ...
Neanderthal epigenetics probably not a great target for autism research
Sensationalized headline used keywords of autism and Neanderthal to oversell an important story about differences in epigenetic regulation between humans ...
Influence of genes on body mass grows with age in kids
The influence of genetic factors on differences between children's Body Mass Index (BMI) increases from 43% at age 4 to ...
Not the end of men: Set of Y chromosome conserved through evolution
A core set of genes on the Y chromosome has been retained through much of animal evolution, not just for ...
