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.
Teen identifies rare mutation in her own cancer, champions new age of open-access genetics
Elana Simon, an 18-year-old high school student, has published a "groundbreaking" genetic study of her own rare cancer in Science ...
Does competition drive diversity of species?
In Darwinian evolution, organisms compete for resources, and the winners get to pass their genome to future generations. According to ...
EteRNA: a game to design RNA shapes
By playing EteRNA, citizen scientists participate in creating the first large-scale library of synthetic RNA designs. EteRNA Challenge Puzzles ask ...
Whole genome sequencing not ready for prime time
Once prohibitively expensive and laborious, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) is now edging its way into the clinic. The cost of the ...
Genes may make the musician
A team of researchers has identified multiple genes linked to musical aptitude, providing further evidence that musical ability is heritable ...
Judge rules Myriad can’t block other companies’ gene tests
Myriad Genetics Inc. (MYGN:US), the biggest maker of tests for hereditary risks of breast and ovarian cancer, fell the most ...
Three-person IVF has nothing to do with eugenics, but let’s talk about it anyhow
Parents in the UK look set to become the first in the world to use a radical IVF technique that ...
Synthetic biology is the field of the future
Most Americans may not be familiar with synthetic biology, but they may come to appreciate its advances someday soon. Synthetic ...
Genetics for the people? Nowhere in sight
"Your genetic information should be controlled by you,” declares an advertisement for the American direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic-testing firm 23andMe. Amid ...
NASA studies twins to see what happens to astronaut DNA in space
What happens to our DNA, RNA and proteins if we spend a long time in space? A pair of 50-year-old ...
Recent natural selection altered the appearance of europeans
It's no surprise that natural selection does not always take an evolutionary time scale. When thousands of knights died during ...
Are extreme athletes genetically drawn to take risk?
Studies of skiers, snowboarders and other extreme athletes are shedding new light on why different people are attracted to different ...
Acid bath stem cell method scientist retracts study
The researchers behind the acid bath stem cell method that caused a stir in January have asked to retract the ...
Elephant intellect: Genius in the largest brain on land
Scientists are finally probing the elephant brain to find out how cooperative problem solving, tool use, and even self-awareness can ...
Litany of unknowns surface at FDA germline modification meeting
An FDA committee held a historic public meeting last week to discuss the scientific, technologic, and clinical issues related to ...
Scientists create genetically modified cells that fight HIV
The treatment is considered radical, and the results were drawn from a small scale human trial, but for the first ...
My genes made me do it
In the trial of Rene Patrick Bourassa Jr., the defendant and his attorneys made no effort to deny he had ...
Genetic realities of race aren’t the ones you’d expect
Race is an intellectual taboo, and racial explanations for human traits are seen as scientific non-starters. From The Biological Jew ...
What’s ahead for BRCA genetic testing and counseling?
The US Supreme Court’s landmark decision last June, mandating that an individual’s genes cannot be patented, transformed the genetic testing ...
Dentistry of the future may include epigenetic analysis
Researchers from the University of Adelaide’s School of Dentistry say a visit to the dentist could eventually require a detailed ...
Blackout zones of missing DNA in the human genome map
Since the initial release of the human genome over a decade ago, researchers have extensively studied areas, accounting for roughly ...
Genographic team surveys New Zealand
The Genographic Team has been in New Zealand this week, working with people of Pacific as well as European and ...
Global genomic data-sharing effort kicks off
The number of sequenced human genomes will soon jump from the thousands to the millions. But a recently established high-profile ...
Age of genomic medicine dawns, finally
When President Bill Clinton announced in 2000 that Craig Venter and Dr. Francis Collins of the National Human Genome Research ...
Mitohype: Three-parent IVF
If I turned in a 20,337 word article and the editor decided to replace 37 of those words, would I ...
Single gene controls butterfly wing pattern
Female Common Mormon butterflies (Papilio polytes) are a varied lot. Some look like the black-and-white males, but others mimic the ...
Greater variety of pre-natal screenings now offered
The list of available pre-natal genetic screening tests is growing. The tests are non-invasive and generally have a low false-positive ...
