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.
Weight gain, infertility, depression and anxiety: Online misinformation abounds about birth control — prompting women to forgo contraception
Search for “birth control” on TikTok or Instagram and a cascade of misleading videos vilifying hormonal contraception appear: Young women blaming their weight gain on ...
Do COVID victims suffer permanent memory loss? Conclusion of a 100,000-patient study is under scrutiny
In a recent study, researchers conclude that those who tested positive for Covid-19 reported worse memory than those who tested ...
Humans and whales are the only animals to go through menopause. What can this tell us about aging and fertility?
Just five species of whales with teeth are the only others known to have females that regularly live long after ...
First Neuralink brain implant patient plays computer chess with his mind
Elon Musk’s Neuralink introduced the first patient to receive its brain-computer implant can now move a computer cursor using the ...
World’s first genetically engineered pig kidney transplant into living patient is major step towards addressing global organ shortage
A biotechnology company developing human-compatible engineered organs announced the first ever transplantation ...
White and brown bears: Are hybrid ‘pizzly bears’ better suited for our rapidly warming world?
Could beige-coloured hybrid bears bread from polar bears and brown bears potentially evolve into a superior type of bear? ...
Preserved human brains: 4,400 date back nearly 12,000 years
A recent study has demonstrated that human brains can survive the test of time far better than previously believed ...
Extraterrestrial musings: Does Jupiter’s ice-coated moon Europa host life?
Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon, Europa, has captivated planetary scientists interested in the geophysics of alien worlds ...
Making human eggs out of skin cells could change everything for infertile mothers or same sex parents. Here’s where the technology is today
New procedure could overcome common forms of infertility and help people have children who share their DNA ...
Rebelled against COVID restrictions? You might also believe in conspiracy theories
A series of three studies revealed that individuals with pronounced psychological entitlement were more likely to have visited non-essential venues ...
An on-off switch for anxiety? Genetic pathway mice could lead to human treatments
Researchers at the University of Aberdeen have identified an area of human and mouse DNA that plays a role in ...
The ‘weird, wild, wonderful, and downright unsettling’ ways researchers are using mini organs
Scientists are using organoids to screen drug candidates, grow viruses, build biocomputers, and much, much more ...
Viewpoint: Brain theory—We thought weight loss drug Ozempic worked in the gut. We were wrong
Scientists zero in on the likely mechanisms of weight-loss drugs, but they are encountering new and baffling questions ...
Life’s purpose: Yale psychiatrist explores how evolution could influence the meaning of life
Samuel Wilkinson discusses evolutionary forces that spur us to be altruistic and what inspired his fascination with life’s purpose ...
Bacteria that cleans sewage? Microbes have evolved to break down medications that we excrete
Many wastewater treatment plants mix wastewater and air in a tank to form an activated sludge, which helps bacteria break ...
When did our human ancestors arrive in Europe? 1.4-million-year-old artifacts made by hominids track their migration
An artifact-rich archaeological site in western Ukraine may be the oldest spot in Europe to contain evidence of early humans ...
CRISPR co-creator Jennifer Doudna on how gene editing can tackle antibiotic resistance crisis
Understanding how CRISPR could be used to tackle antibiotic resistance, we need to understand how that resistance arises in the ...
Understanding ego death: Psychedelics can be humbling for some people — but for others it inflates their egos. Why?
A commonly recounted experience with psychedelics is that it dissolves one’s ego, blurring the boundaries between ourselves and others ...
With just a sample of fluid surrounding a baby in the womb, researchers can make mini organs to test out potential medical treatments
Scientists have created miniorgans from cells floating in the fluid that surrounds a fetus in the womb—opening new area of ...
Microsoft AI image generator ‘randomly creates violent and sexual imagery,’ whistleblower alleges
Microsoft's AI text-to-image generator, Copilot Designer, appears to be heavily filtering outputs after being warned it would do so ...
In 2023, humans generated more energy-related emissions than ever before. Here’s why clean energy hydropower was the culprit
Hydropower is a staple of clean energy and it’s one of the world’s largest sources of renewable electricity ...
Hairy questions: As scientists edge closer to resurrecting mammoths, a host of ethical and scientific issues arise
Colossal Biosciences, a biotechnology company based in Dallas, announced [March 6] that it has produced a line of Asian elephant ...
Scientists losing uphill battle to prevent measles spread
Measles seems poised to make a comeback in America. Two adults and two children staying at a migrant shelter in ...
Viewpoint: My scientific paper was accused of ChatGPT plagiarism. Here’s how I proved my innocence
A journal reviewer accused Lizzie Wolkovich of using ChatGPT to write a manuscript. She hadn’t — but her paper was ...
Erectile dysfunction drug Viagra may help prevent brain aging
Viagra can be a wonder drug for men with erectile dysfunction, and now new research suggests it may also be ...
Gene therapy has restored hearing for a second child. Here’s why some deaf people adamantly oppose treatment
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia surgeon John Germiller was among the world's first to successfully treat a deaf child with gene ...
Did eugenicist Charles Lindbergh fake his disabled son’s ‘crime-of-the-century’ kidnapping to cover up experiments by Nazi-sympathizing scientists?
The kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh’s son has inspired plausible theories about what really happened ...
