Human Genetics Features
The GLP tackles innovations in human genetics and biotechnology. We highlight the work of our own writers, as well as that of contributors from around the Web. The GLP does not take a position on genetics-related issues; any opinions expressed belong to the authors.
Categories include:
- CRISPR and gene editing
- Gene therapy
- Stem cell research
- Genetic diseases
- Synthetic biology
- Epigenetics
- Biodrugs (pharmacogenetics)
- Personal genomics
- Ancestry and evolution
- Ethics and regulations
Parents’ Bill of Rights: Vaccine wars heat up in states allowing exemptions for schoolchildren
Gayle Borne has fostered more than 300 children in Springfield, Tennessee. She’s cared for kids who have rarely seen a ...
Global ‘longevity hotspots’: What’s the secret of these blue zones?
Ageing is an inevitable part of life, which may explain our strong fascination with the quest for longevity. The allure of eternal youth drives a multi-billion ...
Tales from the front lines in the ‘vaccine wars’: Review of Peter Hotez’s Book, ‘The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science’
“If I don’t write this or stand up for vaccines, then who will?” That is what motivates the activism of ...
Treating tinnitus: FDA approves first device to reduce ear ringing
Tinnitus is a perceived sound that only you can hear. It might be a ringing, buzz, or tone. It arises ...
Viewpoint: Do you believe in magic? Many nutritional supplements are impure, ineffective, unsafe — and unregulated. That needs to change
Herbal dietary supplements (also known as nutritional supplements, but correctly called botanicals), once dismissed as hippie fare, are now widely ...
Genetic embryo screening for health issues and IQ inch closer to reality. Here’s a primer on what you can expect
The world of IVF has introduced a host of ethical quandaries. For now, Alabamians will be spared grappling the latest, ...
Addiction rewires the brain on a genetic level. As we learn more, new avenues for treatment come into focus
Addictive substances like alcohol and drugs can overwhelm the natural reward pathways in your brain, resulting in reduced impulse control ...
Viewpoint: BPA and phthalate hysteria — Venturing out of its knowledge zone, ‘Consumer Reports’ launches anti-chemical tirade on plastic food packaging
If you want advice on which coffee maker or space heater to buy, Consumer Reports (CR) is where you go ...
Viewpoint: Does Donald Trump’s authoritarian style and his popularity among ultra-conservative religious leaders echo the rise of Hitler’s Nazi Germany?
Each September marks the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s Nuremberg Laws, whose passage in 1935 stripped Jews of their German citizenship and ...
When in our evolutionary history did we become ‘human’?
We now know from evolutionary science that humanity has existed in some form or another for around 2 million years ...
Viewpoint: Weighing the costs of relying on government-reimbursements to address America’s ballooning fat problem
Giving everyone that is overweight or obese access to one of the new diet drugs would increase deficit spending from ...
Organ shortage and genetic modification: Tissues from 3D-bioprinting and GM pigs could address organ shortages but over-regulation causes lags
Modern medicine has produced many kinds of high-tech miracles, among them gene therapy to correct malfunctioning genes, electrical stimulation devices to restore ...
Genetic justice: Polygenic scores and ethnic differences
Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) are powerful tools. They gauge how likely you are to have a given trait based only ...
Russia’s shadowy disinformation war against the United States and its allies — Here are some of its key targets
Russia’s decades-old propaganda machine seeks to damage the health and prosperity of the country's adversaries. Ukraine and the United States ...
Viewpoint: Rejecting hysteria — ‘Alarmism’ over phthalates illustrates importance of embracing established risk measures
In October, in what could turn into a landmark case, a Missouri woman sued cosmetics company L'Oréal, claiming that her ...
Probiotics are ‘enticing target’ for gene editing — but is CRISPR up for the challenge?
Every morning I pop a Pearl probiotic. I try hard not to drop it, for the tiny, slippery yellow sphere ...
GLP podcast: Neuralink chip in your brain? CNN’s bunk COVID booster headline; Obesity drugs—the long-term effects
Neuralink has successfully implanted its "brain–computer interface" in a human patient. Elon Musk says the results so far are "promising." ...
Viewpoint: No, the data do not show that using sex toys release cancer-causing phthalate microplastics into your body
Microplastics are a kernel of biological concern that gets magnified by hype, like endocrine "disrupting" chemicals or weedkillers detectable in ...
Here’s how your immune system synthesizes its own antiviral drugs in response to infections
Your immune system makes its own antiviral drug—blocking viruses from replicating their RNA is one way antivirals work ...
Viewpoint: ‘I’m not anti vaccine, I’m pro-vaccine safety’ — Debunking Robert F. Kennedy’s lies about vaccine beliefs
CNN host Kasie Hunt interviewed antivax presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Although she did better than most journalists confronting ...
Viewpoint: Big Tech-Federal government conspiracy or sound science? A government agency just canceled its $30 million dollar study designed to tell us whether cell phones can cause cancer
Since the introduction of cell phones en masse in the 1990s, a small but vociferous faction of health advocates has ...
Darwin’s legacy: A popular new guide through the sometimes obtuse world of evolution
The study of Charles Darwin is a useful exercise in the history of science, as it teaches us that the ...
Is Alzheimer’s disease transmissible?
Five people treated for pituitary dwarfism decades ago with human growth hormone (hGH) pooled from cadavers have shown cognitive decline ...
GLP podcast/video: Too much cleanliness makes us sick? Protect your genetic data; Against ‘green-neocolonialism’
Good hygiene is important, but too much of it might be contributing to chronic disease in developed countries. A data ...
Biological exceptionalism: How two Italian sisters lived to 100
In my endless email about COVID-19 popped up a new paper analyzing the health of two Italian sisters who lived ...
Viewpoint: As concerns about plastic pollution in the ocean mount, there is a yet untapped solution — genetically-engineered bacteria that “eat” plastic. Will activists and the government block it?
Spain’s northern coast has been fighting a months-long assault from a ‘white tide’ of plastic pellets dumped by a Dutch-registered ...
Filling the gaps of what we know about the first days and weeks of the developing human embryo
Several recent reports are filling in the gaps of what we know about the earliest days and weeks of human ...