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.
Prenatal tests racing from theory to practice
The following is an excerpt. Only a couple of years ago, people were amazed at the idea of genetically testing ...
3-D printer to speed human embryonic stem cell research
The following is an excerpt. A team of scientists is reporting a breakthrough in the 3-D printing using human embryonic ...
Crime-fighting DNA banks should be used sparingly
The following is an excerpt. DNA has been such an effective tool for solving crimes that many people are pushing ...
DNA confirms twisted bones belong to Richard III
The following is an excerpt. There were cheers when Richard Buckley, lead archaeologist on the hunt for the king's body, ...
Pigeon DNA supports Darwin’s work
The following is an excerpt. Pigeon breeding, Darwin argued, was an analogy for what happened in the wild. Nature played ...
Mapping the human microbiome
The following is an excerpt. Did you know that foreign microoganisms outnumber our own cells by 10:1, and that we ...
The myth of common cuckoldry
The following is an excerpt. One of the quasi-facts which I often stumble upon is the idea that in 10 ...
Genetics-poverty link questioned
The following is an excerpt. Economists at Brown University and Williams College published a paper in this month’s issue of the American Economic ...
Tailored gene therapy could replace drugs for HIV patients
The following is an excerpt. One of the biggest problems in treating HIV patients is the amount of daily individual ...
Recreating how genes turn on and off in humans
The following is an excerpt. Durham, NC (Scicasts) – By reproducing in the laboratory the complex interactions that cause human genes ...
The popular (and misleading) view of DNA
Despite push-back against genetic determinism ("DNA is not destiny"), there's is still a popular reluctance to reduce the prominence of ...
The promising future of GM rice
Commercialized GM rice had not yet become a reality—farmers aren’t growing it and consumers can’t eat it. But varietals with ...
Mishandling of DNA evidence found in over 50 cases at NYC crime lab
The following is an excerpt. The New York City medical examiner’s office said Thursday that it had discovered more than ...
Genes not the only predictor of a human’s fate, even in identical twins
The following is an excerpt. On Jan. 16, Pauline Friedman Phillips, the woman who wrote under the pen name Abigail ...
Should Lance Armstrong be celebrated as a pioneer in human enhancement?
Technology and medicine are helping humans to go above-and-beyond our evolutionary limitations. As self-enhancement becomes more socially acceptable, allowing doping ...
The “right time” to have children
Are older parents trading the financial security of age for increased risk of disorders like Down syndrome, multiple or premature ...
The importance of open data in genomics
The following is an excerpt. Yesterday a friend of mine who happens to be of doughty German and Scandinavian upper ...
DA proposes DNA testing for immigrants
The following is an excerpt. District Attorney Michael Ramos wrote a letter to congressional leaders, urging legislators to require DNA ...
Glaucoma risk depends on genetics and race
Research may soon reveal the genetic variation that underlies ethnic disparities in glaucoma risk ...
Controversial stem-cell company moves treatment out of the United States
The following is an excerpt. US citizens who had pinned their hopes on a company being able to offer stem-cell ...
The problem with the bioscience industry (video)
The following is an excerpt. Hilary Rose, co-author of Genes, Cells and Brains, argues that we should treat the medical claims ...
RNA fragments may yield rapid, accurate cancer diagnosis
The following is an excerpt. Cancer tumor cells shed microvesicles containing proteins and RNA fragments, called exosomes, into cerebral spinal fluid, ...
Cravings and addictions: It’s all down to genetics
The following is an excerpt. I'd like to think that DNA has a significant but limited impact on human achievement ...
Aztec conquest altered genetics of early Mexico inhabitants
The following is an excerpt. AUSTIN, Texas — For centuries, the fate of the original Otomí inhabitants of Xaltocan, the ...
Bringing back the Neanderthal genome the old-fashioned way
The following is an excerpt. With all the crazy talk about George Church and an adventurous young woman conspiring to bring back ...
What is a Filipino? Looking at DNA for the answers
The following is an excerpt. What's your mix? Remember that infamous advertising campaign a few months ago, which raised the ...
A brave new world of prenatal DNA sequencing
The following is an excerpt. Conventional methods for checking a baby’s genome for abnormalities require invasive procedures, such as using ...
