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.
Europe’s bioindustry 4.0: ‘The upside of biotechnology is that it can offer a cleaner alternative to traditional chemical manufacturing’
Biotechnology, which uses living organisms to create different products or processes, remains important in today’s production of food and drink ...
50,000 brain scans: AI has discovered five patterns of brain atrophy, providing insights into the mystery of aging
An analysis of almost 50,000 brain scans has revealed five distinct patterns of brain atrophy associated with ageing and neurodegenerative ...
High intelligence, athletic, calm disposition? Designer babies are enticingly near but red flags abound
Genetic screening has rapidly evolved, offering insights into an embryo’s genetic makeup that were once unimaginable. Prospective parents can now ...
Viewpoint: AI is paving the path for dehumanizing medicine
AI promises to make healthcare quicker, more precise, and error-free. To the degree that it replaces doctors and nurses, it ...
Cloudy with a chance of AI? How weather forecasters are more accurately predicting tropical storms
In May, Microsoft released a forecast tool called Aurora that produces five-day global air- pollution predictions and 10-day weather forecasts ...
From Sitting Bull to Beethoven: Scientists are using DNA to create geneaological maps for people with murky histories
In the decade or so since scientists reported the first ancient human genome sequence, they have generated genome data for ...
Viewpoint: Polygenic screening allows parents to ‘choose the very best children’ — Ethical questions abound
Emerging technology is about to present parents with a set of ethical questions that make the usual kinds of debates ...
80 per cent of the world’s population uses some folk medicine. Here’s why magical thinking will never go away
At one point or another, we all knew something about how to heal ourselves using the plants and animals that ...
‘Addictively dependent’ on an AI girlfriend? Scientists and ethicists fear artificial intelligence may undermine human romantic connections
AI companionship is no longer theoretical—our analysis of a million ChatGPT interaction logs reveals that the second most popular use of ...
Unearthing the Shire? 3-foot tall Hobbit-sized human ancestor bone found in Indonesia
The remains of a member of the smallest ancient human species on record, who stood at just 1m tall, have ...
‘My life was full of people telling me you can’t do this’: First sickle cell CRISPR gene therapy already rescuing lives
“My life was constantly full of ‘noes’, and people telling me ‘you can’t do this’ – it was limitation after ...
We know moms shouldn’t drink while pregnant. Now there’s evidence that drinking dads can damage children’s brain development too
For more than 50 years, scientists have warned about the risks of drinking alcohol in pregnancy. Recent research has found that ...
‘Digital psychological twins’: AI copy of a dying family member’s consciousness could help make end-of-life decisions. Is this ethical?
End-of-life decisions can be extremely upsetting for surrogates, the people who have to make those calls on behalf of another ...
The Atlantic ocean might collapse from climate change. How long do we have to find a solution?
A gigantic, weather-defining current system could be headed to collapse. How much time might we have left to save it? ...
Viewpoint: HIV doesn’t cause AIDS? Joe Rogan’s COVID conspiracies spark surge in AIDS denialism
Several million people were listening in February when Joe Rogan falsely declared that “party drugs” were an “important factor in AIDS.” His ...
A futurist says our species evolves in 3 phases: With 1 down, here’s what may come next
Jeffrey Charles Hardy introduces a three-tiered model of human evolution—the “First, Suspended, and Second Human Evolution.” Standing back and viewing ...
A Fatal Inheritance: Book review — Cancer-stricken family survivor recounts legacy of tragic genetic lineage
When it’s working, p53 acts as a tumor suppressor, stamping out malignancies before they can grow and spread. This gene ...
Do fetuses talk in the womb? How accents form before birth
Some restless infants don’t wait for birth to let out their first cry. They cry in the womb, a rare ...
Progeria solution: Gene editing takes us one step closer to curing the disease that makes children rapidly age
A cure for an ultrarare disease, progeria, a disease that speeds up aging in children, could be on the horizon ...
Can we repurpose parasites to deliver drugs to the brain?
Some question if a parasite can ever be rendered harmless enough to be used as a treatment to get drugs ...
‘Revolutionary breakthrough’: Gene therapy could provide one-time treatment for blood disorder beta thalassemia
The first therapy that uses gene-editing is to be offered on the NHS in a “revolutionary breakthrough” for patients. It ...
Here’s what people really use AI chatbots for
Thousands of conversations were analyzed to see what people are really asking them and what topics are most discussed ...
Early dementia diagnosis? New blood test detects 90% of cases
A combined blood test for cognitive decline has a 90% accuracy rate in determining whether memory loss is due to Alzheimer’s disease, ...
Do you have the genes of an Olympian? Here’s the surprise answer
Genetics are only a part of the puzzle when it comes to athleticism as 60 percent athletes are unlikely to ...
As ancient humans moved north, how did they survive the cold?
Gene alteration likely enhanced body heat generation among early humans who moved to colder climates, researchers say ...
Twin studies: Why are scientists so interested in identical twins?
Fascination with twins and what twin studies tell us about human nature is universal. There is no question that behavioral and medical ...
Moon cycles: How they affect sleep, menstruation and illnesses
The moon not only influences the ocean’s tides, but also the life within it. Many corals, bristle worms, sea urchins, mollusks, fish, ...
