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.
Autism is shared among siblings, study finds
A second child is seven times more likely to be diagnosed with autism if an older sibling has the diagnosis, but environmental ...
New cell technique could lead to repairs in damaged DNA
Researchers working with University of Wisconsin stem cell scientist James Thomson and Northwestern University have developed a new way to ...
Genes reveal Palaeolithic genders
When human remains are quite old and incomplete, scientists have found it difficult to determine whether they came from a ...
Mediterranean diet reduces genetic stroke risk
Eating a Mediterranean diet may lower the risk of stroke and offset other negative effects associated with a genetic variant ...
Glowing bunnies: Why they matter
The technique behind glowing rabbits may someday create animals that make biological pharmaceutical products ...
Gaming with genes for the sake of a tree
The public are being asked to help in the fight against ash tree dieback by playing a computer game that ...
What’s it like to get genetic testing
Why do genetic testing? A genetic test is generally performed so a person can find out if they suffer from ...
Study probes DNA search method that led to ‘Grim Sleeper’ suspect
The state of California has been a leader in the use of familial DNA searches -- investigations that seek out ...
Fruit flies aid efforts to develop personalized cancer treatments
For years clinicians have puzzled over the observation that people with type 2 diabetes are more likely to develop certain ...
Altitude sickness: genetics may explain why only some fall ill
Some people who live at high altitudes suffer breathlessness, palpitations and dizziness, while others have no health problems, and now ...
Non-invasive prenatal testing: The holy grail of prenatal genetic testing?
I've been pregnant twice in my 40s and am expecting my fifth child in November. Like most women my age, ...
Male turkey attractiveness is all in the gene expression
For male wild turkeys, reproduction is an all-family effort. Less attractive males often don't get to mate, but they're still ...
Forensic familial search methods carry risk of certain false matches
Familial searching is a new forensic technique to identify a perpetrator if a crime scene DNA sample has no matches ...
Bunnies and other animals that glow in the dark
When a litter of bunnies was born in Istanbul, scientists were pleased.Two of the bunnies have been successfully genetically engineered to glow ...
Researchers use circulation models, genetics to track turtles ‘lost years’
When green turtles toddle out to the ocean after hatching from eggs at sandy beaches they more or less disappear ...
Controversy around Havasupai Indian genetic study more myth than fact
The story that researchers were testing a Native American tribe's DNA without consent is too good to ignore. Even if ...
U.S. horse breeding association must let cloned horses on registry
A U.S. horse association soon will be required to add cloned horses and their offspring to its prestigious registry, a ...
Cat DNA database helps convict killer in the U.K.
A killer in Britain has been brought to justice after hairs from his pet cat were found on a body ...
Is it time to test your baby’s genetics?
You're expecting. Got the baby crib? Check. Diapers and baby formula? Check. More diapers? Check. A prenatal, non-invasive test with ...
Genetic map of cancer reveals trails of mutation that lead to disease
The first detailed map of genetic faults that cause cancers was published on August 14, 2013. It offers profound insights ...
Remnants of ancient viruses in human genome may play role in cancer
According to an international team of scientists from the United States, Europe and Russia, non-coding parts of the human genome ...
Unhidden traits: Genomic data privacy debates heat up
Is addressing genetic privacy concerns for scientific study participants essential, impossible, or maybe undesirable? ...
Genetic switch to guard against escaped ‘superviruses’
Flu scientists disagree over experiments to make the H7N9 bird influenza virus even more dangerous. Some argue that "gain of function" experiments ...
What if plants could be plastic factories?
A Massachusetts-based company is genetically engineering plants to produce an organic polymer that can be used to make biodegradable plastic ...
Creating a consumer genetic test to predict your drug response
A personal genetics startup thinks that there is one set of DNA variants that everyone should know: the ones that ...
Whose stem cells are they anyway?
How should we regulate treatments that use cells taken from a patient's own body? If the cells are grown in ...
Bioengineering modular viruses to fight disease
Imagine fitting viruses together like Lego pieces and using them as a vehicle to deliver gene therapy. Scientists at Rice ...
