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.
Caffeine-addicted bacteria may help combat water pollution
The following is an edited excerpt. It looks like humans aren't the only ones who need a daily caffeine fix ...
DNA is the Linux of the natural world
The following is an edited excerpt. We probably all vaguely assume that computers will overthrow us someday, which may be ...
Unproven stem-cell treatment given green light
The following is an edited excerpt. A combination of patient-derived stem cells, which have no publication record of efficacy, can ...
Cloning, de-extinction, and possibly human applications
The following is an edited excerpt. Antonio Regalado of MIT Technology Review got a nicescoop at the TEDx DeExtinctionconference: George Church and Robert Lanza ...
The era of genetics-based advertising is coming
The following is an excerpt. If you thought personalised advertising based on your Facebook status updates, Gmail content or online ...
Tumor DNA studies help explain cancer genetics
The following is an excerpt. As it has become more efficient and less expensive to analyze the DNA in normal ...
Genetics may determine who becomes a heavy smoker
The following is an excerpt. Individuals who pick up smoking as teenagers have a much higher risk of becoming heavy ...
Storm erupts over publishing of HeLa genome
The following is an excerpt. One of the world's most prestigious laboratories is frantically trying to resolve a row over ...
The dawn of genome trolling
The following is an excerpt. Last week European scientists were shamed into cutting off public access to a genome sequence ...
Italy: Stem-cell cocktail given green light
The following is an excerpt. A combination of patient-derived stem cells, which have no publication record of efficacy, can now ...
Personal genomics: No choice for you
The following is an excerpt. The American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) has recently published recommendations for reporting incidental findings (IFs) in clinical exome ...
Genetic screening for cancer ‘within five years’
The following is an excerpt. A major research drive involving more than 1,000 experts has revealed more than 80 genes ...
Can China really breed a crop of genetically selected geniuses?
The following is an edited excerpt. What if science offered a way to stack the odds in favor of a ...
Get ready for a genetics-based marketplace
A new platform will help consumers control what offers they get from retailers based on their genetic makeup ...
Genetic engineering turns microbes into industrial powerhouses
Thanks to a new method of gene expression quality control, the next industrial revolution could be biological ...
Will animal-machine hybrids fight our next war?
The U.S. government is looking to animal-machine hybrids to safeguard the country and its citizens. The same advances that have ...
Scientists engineer extreme bacteria to make fuel from carbon dioxide
University of Georgia researchers recently used the mighty Pyrococcus furiosus, which usually eats carbohydrates and lives in super-heated waters or ...
Interactive video: Synthetic viruses
BBC medical correspondent Fergus Walsh explains how British scientists have used a new technique to develop a synthetic virus which ...
Synchrotron yields ‘safer’ vaccine
The following is an edited excerpt. Producing vaccines against viral threats is a potentially hazardous business and that's why manufacturers ...
The womb’s strange epigenome
The following is an excerpt. This week, a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesdescribes a little-known feature ...
The inevitability of eugenics as preventative health
The following is an edited excerpt. The real fundamental issue here is that genes are at least somewhat in the ...
Stem-cell ruling riles researchers
The following is an excerpt. Clinics that offer unproven stem-cell treatments often end up playing cat and mouse with health ...
Gene therapy cures leukaemia in eight days
The following is an excerpt. Within just eight days of starting a novel gene therapy, David Aponte's "incurable" leukaemia had ...
Study finds strong genetic component to childhood obesity
The following is an excerpt. Previous research has shown that obesity runs in families, and twin studies suggest that this ...
“De-extinction” and the definition of species
The following is an excerpt. A bird that once darkened the skies of the 19th-century U.S. no longer exists, except ...
Gene therapy may aid failing hearts
The following is an excerpt. In an animal study, researchers at the University of Washington show that it was possible ...
Supreme court may decide whether we own our genes
The following is an excerpt. They may be responsible for everything in your life, from conception to death, they may ...
