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.
In medical first, man paralyzed by Parkinson’s can walk after spinal implant
The implant delivers bursts of electrical signals, stimulating his spinal cord to make his leg muscles move ...
Slowing the fentanyl opioid epidemic: Accelerating research on vaccines to limit impact of heroin, cocaine and nicotine raise hopes
Research is accelerating as the nation grapples with an unprecedented drug crisis fueled chiefly by the synthetic opioid fentanyl ...
First clinical trial of CRISPR cure for HIV is encouraging — but comes with scant details
California-based biotech company Excision BioTherapeutics has shared data from the first human clinical trial of a CRISPR cure for HIV ...
Do rats have a sense of imagination?
Like humans, rats have the ability to imagine locations other than the place they're in, brain research shows ...
‘Deep theoretical crisis’: How valid is psychotherapy?
As a therapist, you need to be ready to abandon the method you know and like if it doesn’t make ...
Genetic research equity: Why researchers are sequencing genomes of 500,000 people of African ancestry
The $80 million effort will provide researchers at U.S. HBCUs and African institutions with exclusive access to the data ...
Gene therapy treatment restores hearing to five children in China. Will the results last?
After deafness treatment, Yiyi can hear her mother and dance to the music. But why is it so noisy at ...
Viewpoint: ‘Blind faith that capitalism and technology will solve the world’s problems’ — Current Affairs attacks ‘techno-optimism’
Techno-optimism is a dangerous philosophy whose adherents that market capitalism and technology will solve the world’s problems ...
Science of lie detection: Does nervousness suggest someone isn’t telling the truth?
Do you become sceptical when someone appears nervous? Could they be lying? How can we catch someone in a lie? ...
Why are there 500 different types of psychotherapy?
Treatments can vary widely and are sometimes even contradictory. But no one is making sure that the method you use ...
Can we cut cost and pain of IVF? Start-up CEO tries out own company’s alternative way to ‘mature’ human eggs in lab dish instead of inside bodies
While life expectancy is getting longer—it has been slowly rising for a hundred years—that’s not true of women’s reproductive life ...
Corrupting the ‘spirit’ of sport? Posthuman enhanced bodies redefine notion of excellence
The history of humanity undermines the founding assumptions on which the fear of techno-scientific enhancement is based ...
One night without sleep boosts dopamine levels in the brain. Could this finding lead to a potential depression cure?
The antidepressant effect of sleep loss in some mice may have implications for the future of depression treatments ...
Viewpoint: Breaking taboos or pioneering breakthroughs? Weighing ethics of gene editing of human embryos
The German Ethics Council has now also ruled that inheritable genome editing is fundamentally morally permissible ...
Biosecurity blunders? Questions raised about UK GMO lab experiments
MailOnline has learned of six lab incidents where genetically modified organisms (GMO) have escaped containment in the past five years ...
Breakthrough CRISPR treatment for sickle cell anemia up for FDA approval
Advisers to the US regulatory agency will examine the safety profile of a CRISPR-based treatment for sickle-cell disease ...
Ancient pairing: Neanderthals and humans first interbred 250,000 years ago, new analysis shows
It was previously believed that Neanderthals and humans first encountered each other around 75,000 years ago ...
70 is the new 60: Older people score better on memory and cognitive tests now than in 2001
As we get older, our brains take a little longer to process information. Our memory might not be quite what ...
Brain waves can reveal chronic pain patterns, opening doors to personalized treatments
Brain signals can be used to detect how much pain a person is experiencing, which could overhaul how we treat ...
Octopuses are incredibly intelligent creatures. Should they receive more protection against scientific experimentation?
According to Dr. Barbara J. King, professor emerita of anthropology at the College of William & Mary and author of ...
Making eggs without ovaries: How skin-based egg cells could transform human reproduction
Matt Krisiloff, chief executive officer of Conception Biosciences, has dozens of scientists working at a lab in Berkeley, Calif., trying ...
Science vs. equity: Debate over future of gene editing intensifies
Turning to genetic modification could be a solution for a number of genetic diseases including sickle cell anemia, muscular dystrophy ...
If ‘race’ doesn’t exist as many social scientists claim, how can artificial intelligence determine it with unerring accuracy from chest x-rays?
Race is not predicted using the physical structure in x-ray images but is embedded in the grayscale pixel intensities ...
Aligned with views of new House Speaker Mike Johnson, 60% of Americans believe Biblical creation myth or that God guided evolution
A majority of Republicans say divine creation created humans; just under half of Democrats say that there was no divine ...
A CRISPR gene-editing tool has been added to three people with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Is it working?
CRISPR is being used in an experimental effort to eliminate the virus that causes AIDS. The result is unknown ...
There are already 175,000 gene-based health tests available of uneven value. How do patients, doctors and insurance companies separate the wheat from the chaff?
New technology has a history of overwhelming systems that try to manage it, and it’s proving to be the case ...
LSD is fast-emerging as a treatment for depression. Does it work?
Researchers state MDMA and 'magic' mushrooms also have shown promise in treating conditions like anxiety and PTSD ...
