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.
Viable human embryonic stem cells created by cloning
The following is an excerpt of a longer story. A paper in this week’s Cell describes how a team in Oregon finally ...
Moving genomics closer to the clinic
The following is an excerpt of a longer story. Foundation Medicine and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center this month announced a partnership that aims to bring genomics further ...
“You catch criminals with DNA” — What kids know (and don’t) about genetics
The following is an excerpt of a longer story. “DNA is your blood in you, we can use DNA as ...
Probing the genetics of intelligence
The following is an excerpt of a longer story. Researchers in China will scour the genomes of 1,600 super-smart people in ...
Human cloning is here!
The following is an excerpt of a longer story. The world just changed. An international consortium of scientists have announced ...
Defending genomic liberty
The following is an excerpt of a longer story. The Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments and examined one of ...
Why race as a biological construct matters
The following is an excerpt of a longer story. My own inclination has been to not get bogged down in ...
Anti-biotech ETC group launches fight over Kickstarter synthetic biology project
The following is an excerpt of a longer story. If the biohackers can have a Kickstarter campaign to release their ...
Human stem cells made using Dolly cloning technique
The following is an excerpt of a longer story. Sixteen years after the amazing creation of Dolly the cloned sheep, researchers ...
Mosses make two different plants from the same genome
The following is an excerpt of a longer story. One of the most astonishing secrets in biology is this: every ...
Stem cell therapy deserves a dose of skepticism
Stem cells are at risk of becoming "the new snake oil peddled by 21st century charlatans" without better regulation and ...
Genetics continues to garner attention as conservation tool
Genetics continues to make headlines in conservation efforts, even if it's not the species-saving panacea some hope for ...
Synthetic biology could speed flu vaccine production
The following is an excerpt of a longer story. Synthetic biology is breathing new life into the old-fashioned world of ...
Angelina Jolie: Should women be worried by genetics?
The following is a summary of a video. Angelina Jolie's decision to have a preventative double mastectomy is expected to ...
Jason Richwine affair raises prickly policy issues on IQ
The firing of Jason Richwine from the Heritage Foundation for his controversial 2009 thesis on race and IQ reflects poorly ...
Tracing breast cancer’s history
The following is an edited excerpt of a longer story. In today’s New York Times, the actress Angelina Jolie published a remarkably ...
Breakthrough GE potato doesn’t brown or produce potentially carcinogenic compound
Biofortified interviews the man behind a new genetically engineered potato that doesn’t brown when cut or fried nor make acrylamide, ...
Deconstructing Nature’s “plant without junk DNA” story
The following is an edited excerpt of a longer story. A paper released in Nature this week had all the elements of ...
What does it mean to be posthuman?
The following is an excerpt of a longer story. How would you like to be a posthuman? You know, a ...
Genetic genealogy sleuthing: A guide
The following is an excerpt of a longer story. Personal genomics companies that type SNPs genome-wide can identify blocks of ...
Craig Venter, in interview, says human genome has yielded only glimpse of future
The following is an edited excerpt. Genetics pioneer Craig Venter reveals what we have and haven’t learned from the human ...
Unlucky family with faulty DNA yields clues to heart disease
The following is an edited excerpt. Early heart disease ran in Rick Del Sontro’s family, and every time he went ...
Gene therapy improves vision but doesn’t slow underlying disease
The following is an edited excerpt. Follow-up results from one of several groundbreaking gene therapy studies reported in 2008 in ...
Not all congenital heart disease is inherited
The following is an edited excerpt. New mutations that are absent in parents but appear in their children account for ...
DNA testing stirring controversy in Barbados
The following is an edited excerpt. The Attorney General of Barbados Adriel Brathwaite has been accused of behaving “fundamentally foolish” ...
High tech DNA search for John Wayne Gacy’s lost victims
The following is an edited excerpt. Executed by the State of Illinois in 1994 for murdering 33 teenage boys and ...
Experts: Patients should have right to control genomic health information
The following is an excerpt of a longer story. May 9, 2013 — Doctors should not have the right or responsibility ...
