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.
Most mutations in the human genome are recent and probably harmful
We really are a mutant race. Our genomes are strewn with millions of rare gene variations, the result of the ...
The personalization of medicine
Betty Lane didn't have a whole lot of options left in terms of lung cancer treatment when her doctor Cancer Center ...
Researchers bioengineer a new technique for improving gene therapy results
Gene therapy researchers have produced a bioengineered decoy that fools the immune system and prevents it from mistakenly defeating the ...
The surprising origins of life’s complexity
Conventional wisdom holds that complex structures evolve from simpler ones, step-by-step, through a gradual evolutionary process, with Darwinian selection favoring ...
Genetic secrets of the world’s toughest little bird
Scientists have revealed the genetic secrets of how a small bird, Parus humilis (ground tit) can survive in one of the ...
Scientist search for why DNA strands spontaneously break
Breaks in the double-strands of the DNA helix can spell trouble, destabilizing the genome and resulting in changes that drive ...
Scientist find genetic changes that may contribute to schizophrenia onset
Scientists from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have discovered rare genetic changes that may be responsible for ...
201 strange microbes get DNA profiled
A British Columbia lake that's freshwater on top and salty on the bottom is among nine unusual environments that have ...
Curing the disease known as aging
Is aging a process that we simply have to accept as a fact of life or is it something we ...
Whole-genome sequencing detects outbreaks faster
Bench-top whole-genome sequencing platforms provided accurate detection of gram-negative bacteria at speeds faster than traditional identification, researchers found. Whole-gene sequencing ...
Caution urged as DNA tests and genetic mapping advance
Genome mapping advances are on the agenda of the health informatics conference being held in Adelaide, with discussion focused on ...
Researchers sequence genomes of microbe species beyond the lab
The tree of life is dominated by microbes, but many large branches remain uncharted because scientists have been historically restricted ...
Controlling destructive locusts by manipulating their genetics
Swarming locusts are among the most serious pests in the world and can be extremely destructive to agriculture. Understanding the ...
Artist demonstrates genetic similarities in composite portraits
We all learned the rules of inheritance in school: dominant outweight recessive. So if both your parents have brown eyes, ...
DNA backs American history of some dog breeds
Some South Carolina dogs still live in the wild, and local people have long thought they were one of the ...
Obesity gene makes you fat by keeping you hungry
If you can't resist that extra portion of dessert, maybe it is time to stop bemoaning your lack of willpower ...
Vast cancer genetics database could aid drug discovery
Researchers at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., announced that they had assembled the world's largest database of cancer-related genetic variations -- ...
Gene therapy for baby born without immune system
Doctors re-engineered a girl's DNA using a ‘reprogrammed virus’ to splice in the vital gene she is missing into her ...
Spatial skills may be an early sign of creativity
A gift for spatial reasoning—the kind that may inspire a child to dismantle a clock—may be a greater predictor of ...
Should we clone a mammoth?
Last week the most recently discovered carcass of a mammoth was revealed to the public in Yokohama, Japan. The female mammoth, ...
Testing of gene therapies expanding at Boston-area hospitals
Years after it was hyped, vilified for the death of a teenager, and then mostly forgotten by the general public, ...
Better screening for deadly genetic diseases
One in 100 babies worldwide is born with a disease caused by a single gene, according to the World Health Organization ...
Is gene therapy coming of age?
Researchers are promising results from gene therapy trials for the treatment of two different rare diseases ...
Should we control sex to protect humanity’s future?
The more we know about the nature of reproduction, the more we can control it -- and our own future ...
DNA evidence leads to break in Boston Strangler case
Investigators said Thursday that they had linked the man believed by many to have been the Boston Strangler to DNA ...
Research suggests RNA stores more functional genome data than we thought
Contrary to the belief that a large percentage of the human genome contains “junk” material, a team of Australian scientists report they ...
You can’t patent human genes. So why are genetic testing companies getting sued?
Critics of human gene patents rejoiced last month when the nation’s highest court ruled that human genes can’t be patented. A company ...
