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.
What’s going on in your brain when you’re zoning out on the couch?
The brain's 'default mode' has inspired a raft of research into networks of brain regions and how they interact with ...
AI and race: This bot can sniff out depression based on your social media posts — but only if you’re white
Over the years, scientists had developed methods to identify depression by analyzing the language people use in social media posts ...
Leading ways CRISPR is being honed to cure and prevent disease
Talented researchers are exploring ways of using CRISPR to edit genes by cutting and pasting any desired DNA sequence ...
How common is incest? Rise of genetic testing reveals disturbing evidence
Across human cultures, incest between close family members is one of the most universal and most deeply held taboos ...
Microplastics found clogging human arteries and lungs. What are the long-term health consequences?
Raising risk of heart attacks in humans: microplastics have been found in the blood and in organs such as the ...
‘This should be setting off alarms’: Nearly 18 million Americans could be living with long COVID. What are the implications?
CDC data shows nearly 18m people could be living with long Covid even as health agency relaxes isolation recommendations ...
‘Infantile amnesia’: People can’t form conscious memories before the age of 3. Could there be an evolutionary purpose?
Toddlers remember events in context, and new research suggests such memory lapses play an important role in brain development ...
Viewpoint: Seen headlines saying intermittent fasting diets can boost heart disease risks or even kill you? Here’s why you should be skeptical
Science as a process where studies help to make us a little less wrong, and a little more certain about ...
Long COVID survivors may experience brain fog and other symptoms but study suggests no lasting reduction in problem solving or other functions
Participants in a recent study struggled with concentration and sleep, including individuals who had not had Covid-19 and some who ...
Drug-free Alzheimer’s treatment: Headset and glasses combo that pulses with light and sound developed to combat cognitive decline
An experimental device developed by Cognito Therapeutics seeks to slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients using light and sound ...
Building an ‘uncancellable, parallel society of the future’? Far-right and anti-vaxxers meet to create a ‘freedom economy’ that ‘leaves woke corporations behind’
A spectrum of conspiracist and religious communities gathered in Las Vegas in March to discuss building an "uncancellable" future together ...
‘Suddenly everybody in the world looked like a creature in a horror movie’: Rare condition causes man to see distorted ‘demon’ faces
Science now knows that people can develop PMO after a brain injury, tumor or infection, or after seizures such as ...
War and artificial intelligence: Who’s to blame when something goes wrong?
States and civil society have taken up the question of intelligent autonomous weapons as a matter of serious concern ...
Bolsonaro, Modi, and Trump: What is so appealing about authoritarian men?
There are many voters voluntarily that give their vote to politicians who are not particularly interested in democracy ...
Could swimming ‘microbots’ smaller than a grain of sand one day deliver drugs and destroy pathogens in the bloodstream? We’re one step closer
Tiny robots that swim through our blood to deliver drugs or hunt down pathogens that can think for themselves ...
Tapeworm brain infestation? That’s what happened after one man ate undercooked bacon for years on end
A man in the US with a history of consuming undercooked “soft” bacon for years has been found to have ...
Can AI accurately guess your sexual orientation by scanning your brain?
A recent study investigated whether sexual orientation can be reliably predicted, based solely on a brief five-minute brain scan ...
Mythos and logos: Are people programmed to ‘need’ religion?
Justification systems: science is one, religion can be thought of as another, while humans are ultimately justifying creatures ...
Brain scans reveal how parental education and income affect kids’ development
Researchers have studied images of the brains of 10,000 American children finding parental education and income impact brain development ...
Generative AI’s energy-gobbling needs may pose a climate change problem
This is the first time the carbon emissions caused by using an AI model for different tasks have been calculated ...
Person in Texas contracts virulent strain of bird flu after contact with cattle, in second known US case
A person in Texas has been diagnosed with a highly virulent strain of bird flu, the first such case since ...
Multiple companies scrambling to develop brain-computer interfaces that restore movement for severely injured patients
Device was temporarily implanted in a patient, moving it one step closer toward becoming a standard of care ...
Risk of breast cancer coming back? AsymMirai AI compares breasts to more accurately predict cancer 5-years out
New way of using AI can predict breast cancer 5 years in advance — and unlike previous AI models, we ...
How well does genetic screening for talents and traits work? Beethoven’s DNA suggests he was unlikely to be musical
Analysis of Beethoven’s DNA has revealed that he had a low genetic predisposition for beat synchronization, an ability related to ...
Kate Middleton’s cancer disclosure underscores troubling rise of disease in younger adults
Cancer is mostly diagnosed in those over 65 and in the U.S., only about 12% of cancers are diagnosed among ...
Slowing Alzheimer’s: Promising treatment evaluates using blood transfusions from young people
Norwegian researchers are to test a possible new treatment using blood from young people to treat Alzheimer's disease ...
Studying chimpanzees illuminates how speech evolved in humans
Scientists compared parts of the brain that correlate to speech in humans and primates to understand how speech evolved in ...
