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.
Richard Dawkins’ reverie on the twists and turns of evolution is a ‘do not miss’ book
What, do you suppose, is the closest living relative of the hippopotamus? The rhinoceros, perhaps? The pig? In fact, it’s ...
‘The Japanese population isn’t as genetically homogenous as everyone thinks’
By studying the genomes of more than 3,000 people across Japan, researchers have shed light on the population’s complex ancestry ...
Science-based advice on how to talk to your dog to deepen your connection
Your pooch may already be your best friend, but changing the way you talk to them could make your bond ...
Were Neanderthals violent and territorial? That’s the stereotype but that better describes Homo sapiens
Throughout the 19th century, when the theory of evolution was struggling to land in the public imagination, discussions about Neanderthals were ...
‘Our planet is choking on plastics”—They are challenging to recycle, but what if we could vaporize them
Some of the worst [plastic] offenders, which can take decades to degrade in landfills, are polypropylene—which is used for things ...
How the brain predicts coming events
The human brain is constantly picking up patterns in everyday experiences — and can do so without conscious thought, finds ...
Viewpoint: Conspiracy thinking undergirds ‘woo woo’ alternative health advocates – and they could be in the next Trump administration
If Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were president, this is the kind of Cabinet he might appoint: Vani Hari, a.k.a. the ...
Elon Musk is getting jittery about meeting his self-imposed deadline for human flights to Mars
Elon Musk sounds like a man grappling with the reality that there are only so many trips left for him ...
Superintelligence: ‘Once AI learns how to master Artificial General Intelligence’, it will learn how to upgrade itself and blow right past us’
Right now, AI can’t tell the difference between a cat and a dog. AI needs thousands of pictures in order ...
Disease-carrying mosquitoes are exploding in number globally and in the U.S. as the world heats up
West Nile virus, Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), malaria and dengue are gaining new ground in the US. The mosquitoes that ...
Should we edit our genes to make space travel safer?
Long-distance space travel can wreak havoc on human health. There’s radiation and microgravity to contend with, as well as the ...
5 signs of dementia besides memory loss
Memory loss is the most well-known symptom of dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s disease. But experts say there are other warning signs ...
Anti-science conspiracy theorists and alternative medicine believers are fueling medical misinformation
Just recently, in casual conversation, someone commented ... that “they” already have a cure for cancer but are hiding it ...
Viewpoint: ‘Negative eugenics is gathering like a very dark storm—darker and more dangerous than at any time since the rise of Adolf Hitler’
An efflorescence of eugenic thinking ... is found among those who explore and develop new technologies that can alter the ...
What happens if your child has a rare disease and the drug that could treat it is too expensive?
When his infant son was diagnosed with a rare disease, a Canadian father was dismayed to discover there was no treatment ...
What separates human thinking from that of other animals and when did our uniqueness emerge?
The human mind is unlike any other. It’s the key that unlocked language, culture, abstract reasoning, long-term planning, and large-scale ...
Astronaut Frank Rubio made 5,963 circles of the Earth in more than a year of space travel. How did it effect him?
The record for a single trip into space currently stands at 437 days, but prolonged periods in orbit can alter ...
Infections can cause cancer? Yes, and here are four of them
Most cases of stomach cancer are caused by bacteria. A majority of cervical cancers, as well as some genital and ...
A single dose of psilocybin appears more effective than drugs in treating depression
A new study compares psilocybin — the active compound in magic mushrooms, with a common antidepressant medication. During 6 months ...
Wegovy and other GLP-1 drugs lowers the risk of heart attacks and strokes by 20% and could save 34,000 lives annually in the US
Clinical trial data from drugmaker Novo Nordisk showed that people using Wegovy had a 20% lower risk of a cardiac ...
Systemic racism hurts minorities in accessing human eggs and donors
"Eggonomics: The Global Market in Human Eggs and the Donors Who Supply Them," a new book by University of Alabama ...
Viewpoint: ‘Fake science’ and ‘conspiracy theories’ likely if Trump wins and appoints RFK, Jr. ‘health czar’
“I’m going to be deeply involved in helping to choose the people who can run F.D.A. and N.I.H. and C.D.C.,” ...
How Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” inspired today’s misplaced chemophobia and endangers public health
[C]hemophobia has roots in the heart of the modern environmental movement. [In] 1962, biologist Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a book ...
Brain-tracking headphones can improve focus but they raise privacy concerns
Activity trackers have come a long way. No longer mere step-counters, they can monitor your heart rate, blood oxygen level, and ...
Viewpoint: What do social conservatives really believe about IVF?
[S]eemingly stung by Kamala Harris’s assertion that IVF treatments have been curtailed “under Donald Trump’s abortion bans,” the former Republican ...
In the age of gene therapy, what does ‘being cured’ mean?
Gene therapy comes with the expectation that it will “cure” an expanding number of genetic disorders. If you’ve never wondered ...
Do we need to regulate testosterone clinics?
Nowadays, men in their 40s ... are constantly being urged to get their testosterone levels checked, as private clinics and ...
