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Top headlines
Lead story
Anyone who has watched a crime drama knows that a stray hair or drop of blood contains enough DNA to convict a suspect. But did you know you can also leave your DNA behind with every breath and step you take?
Genetic sequencing technology is now advanced enough to be able to extract identifiable information about your gender, genetic ancestry and health risks from trace samples exposed to the elements and mixed in with other species. It can even be pulled straight from the air.
Ecologists and marine biologists Jenny Whilde and Jessica Alice Farrell of the University of Florida collect environmental DNA, or eDNA – genetic material organisms shed into the environment – to study endangered sea turtles. While they knew they were likely collecting DNA from other species as well, including humans, they didn’t know just how informative that DNA could be.
“Identifiable information can be extracted from eDNA, and accessing this level of detail about individuals or populations comes with responsibilities relating to consent and confidentiality,” they write. “We’re calling for deeper discussion about how to ethically handle human environmental DNA.”
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Yesterday’s editor’s note misspelled the name of scholar Boaz Dvir. We regret the error.
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Vivian Lam
Associate Health and Biomedicine Editor
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A casual stroll on the beach can leave enough intact DNA behind to extract identifiable information.
Comezora/Moment via Getty Images
Jenny Whilde, University of Florida; Jessica Alice Farrell, University of Florida
Environmental DNA provides a wealth of information for conservationists, archaeologists and forensic scientists. But the unintentional pickup of human genetic information raises ethical questions.
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Economy + Business
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Jakub Hlávka, University of Southern California; Adam Rose, University of Southern California
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Aichia Chuang, University of North Carolina – Greensboro; Greg R. Oldham, Tulane University; Jing Zhou, Rice University; Ryan Shuwei Hsu, National Chengchi University
A recent study found that offering workers a choice of what type of reward they would like for offering good suggestions increased the volume of submissions and their creativity too.
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Science + Technology
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Stacy Rosenbaum, University of Michigan; Robin Morrison, University of Exeter
In many animals, including humans, adverse events in youth have lasting negative health effects over the life span. But new research suggests something different is going on in mountain gorillas.
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Politics + Society
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Salih Yasun, Indiana University
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Rodney Coates, Miami University
Throughout US history, a ‘white backlash’ has worked to keep Black officeholders and their constituents out of power.
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Ronald Niezen, University of San Diego
Digital evidence is becoming a routine fixture for war crimes investigations, including the one focused on Ukraine, changing the landscape for international tribunal investigations.
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Ethics + Religion
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Joseph R. Stuart, Brigham Young University
The civil rights leader Malcolm X was famously part of the Nation of Islam until his break from the group in 1964. What is the history behind this small but influential religious movement?
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Scott D. McDonald, Tufts University
The ancient Chinese text is considered a military classic, but Western readers often overlook its philosophical roots.
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Health + Medicine
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Ayako Miyashita, University of California, Los Angeles
In 1983, during the early days of the AIDS epidemic, the US Food and Drug Administration made the decision to ban gay men from donating blood. Now, 40 years later, it is dropping that rule.
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Environment + Energy
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Stephanie Arcusa, Arizona State University; Klaus Lackner, Arizona State University
Fossil fuel power plants can avoid most emissions by capturing carbon dioxide and pumping it underground. But to be a climate solution, that carbon has to stay stored for thousands of years.
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