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.
DNA evidence may not be an open and shut case
The belief that DNA samples mark out individuals like an infallible biological barcode is powerful. But the process of tying ...
Claim of first human stem cell trial unravels
Claims by a Japanese scientist to have run a clinical trial in which reprogrammed cardiac muscle cells grown from induced ...
Scientists believe DNA has half life of more than 500 years
Few researchers have given credence to claims that samples of dinosaur DNA have survived to the present day, but no ...
Race and intelligence
There is no more explosive issue in human genetics than the issue of race and IQ. Ron Unz, a leading ...
Stem cell transplants may show promise for MS
New research suggests that stem cell transplants to treat certain brain and nervous system diseases such as multiple sclerosismay be ...
In first, Indian stem cells sent abroad to treat London patient
In the first case of its kind in the country, stem cells from a 50-year-old woman in Nagpur were donated ...
Stem cells transplanted in human brain create myelin
Neural stem cells transplanted into the brains of people with Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD) can differentiate and begin producing the myelin ...
US panel urges end to secret DNA testing over privacy concerns
They're called discreet DNA samples, and the Elk Grove, California, genetic-testing company easyDNA says it can handle many kinds, from ...
Genoeconomics: To uproar, researches say genetic diversity can predict economic success
A yet-to-be-published article in an upcoming issue of the prestigious American Economic Review by two economics professors, peer reviewed by ...
Designing babies to breed out disability?
We have a moral obligation to have healthier children, an ethicist tells SBS’s Insight. But how far should we go ...
Scientists find missing link between players in the epigenetic code
Over the last two decades, scientists have come to understand that the genetic code held within DNA represents only part ...
Was Lamarck right? How epigenetics may work
While no biologist believes that organisms can willfully change their physiology in response to their environment and pass those changes ...
Researchers link genetic mutation to psychiatric disease and obesity
McGill researchers have identified a small region in the genome that conclusively plays a role in the development of psychiatric ...
Billion dollar babies of the human genome
The Human Genome Project (HGP) deciphered the entirety of the human genetic code in just over a decade. Though science ...
DNA’s half-life identified using fossil bones
We are used to radioactive substances having a half-life, but DNA? Now a study of bones from extinct birds suggests ...
New DNA findings hold potential for cancer treatment
Six years ago, Boise State University biology professor Greg Hampikian and computer science colleague Tim Andersen announced that they had ...
US scientists aim to make human sperm from stem cells
US researchers say they will redouble their efforts to create human sperm from stem cells following the success of a ...
The genetics of nearsightedness, stretch marks, and motion sickness
What do nearsightedness, stretch marks, and motion sickness have to do with each other? They don’t appear to be genetically ...
Researchers develop new tool for making genetic engineering of microbial circuits reliably predictable
Synthetic biology is the latest and most advanced phase of genetic engineering, holding great promise for helping to solve some ...
Synthesizing life means faster cures, biologist says
A leader in the field of synthetic biology, J. Craig Venter considers himself an optimist, but he can see the ...
Researchers build most complex synthetic biology circuit yet
Using genes as interchangeable parts, synthetic biologists design cellular circuits that can perform new functions, such as sensing environmental conditions ...
Scientists share Nobel Prize for ‘groundbreaking’ stem cell work that ‘revolutionized’ science
A British scientist has won the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work in creating stem cells to battle hitherto ...
‘Genetic signatures’ may predict prostate cancer
Researchers have identified genetic "signatures" for aggressive prostate cancer (the second most common cause of death in men, after lung ...
New procedure uses stem cells and patient’s own body fat to rebuild breasts
It's almost every woman's dream: Getting rid of unwanted fat and getting a breast enhancement at the same time ...
Create a baby from stem cells? Research suggests possibility
A breakthrough in fertility research lays open the possibility that gay and lesbian couples could someday have children who are ...
Genetic sleuthing uncovers deadly new virus in Africa
An isolated outbreak of a deadly disease known as acute hemorrhagic fever, which killed two people and left one gravely ...
How genetics shape political beliefs
Studies of identical twins unequivocally demonstrate the heritability of politically related behavior. What they do not do, though, is explain ...
