2026 Credibility and Reputation Report

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Global Gene Editing Regulation Tracker

Our interactive GLP global map explains the status of each country’s regulations for human and agricultural gene editing and gene drives.
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GLP 2021 Annual Report

The GLP is committed to full transparency. Download our 2021 Annual Report.

Ancestry & Evolution

The desire to understand our origins is primal. By examining our DNA over successive generations through the evolutionary process of inherited characteristics of human and animal populations–as well as from those species from which humans share a common ancestry–we can decipher our individual and collective past and develop medical innovations for the future.

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Viewpoint: Ethical questions about embryo screening and eugenics

Viewpoint: Ethical questions about embryo screening and eugenics

Christine Rosen |
Orchid and other start-ups like it take embryos produced by IVF and subject those embryos to polygenic screening. This process ...
Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA lives on in at least six living people

Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA lives on in at least six living people

Leonardo da Vinci DNA Project |
For more than five centuries, Leonardo Da Vinci has been celebrated as a visionary artist, scientist, and inventor, known for ...
Unraveling the genetic mystery of autism

Unraveling the genetic mystery of autism

David Cox |
Until the 1970s, the prevailing belief in psychiatry was that autism was a consequence of bad parenting. In the 1940s, ...
100 years after the Scopes trial, creationist beliefs show no sign of waning

100 years after the Scopes trial, creationist beliefs show no sign of waning

Peter Smith |
Some people thought the 1925 Scopes monkey trial marked a cultural defeat for biblical fundamentalism. But a century after what ...
Ancient North American ancestry: Geneticist helps Pueblo tribe affirm its long-denied roots

Ancient North American ancestry: Geneticist helps Pueblo tribe affirm its long-denied roots

Bruce Bower |
Members of New Mexico’s Picuris Pueblo Tribal Nation have long told stories about having descended from ancient North American ancestors ...
COVID wet market nature origin theory gets a boost: The genetic trail of coronavirus origins

COVID wet market nature origin theory gets a boost: The genetic trail of coronavirus origins

Carl Zimmer |
In a study published on [May 7, 2025], a team of researchers compared the evolutionary story of SARS with that of Covid 17 ...
South Korea’s Haenyeo—Did these legendary women evolve to dive?

South Korea’s Haenyeo—Did these legendary women evolve to dive?

Katie Hunt |
An island 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula is home to a unique and ...
Why and where cancer rates are climbing in younger adults while overall cancer rates decline

Why and where cancer rates are climbing in younger adults while overall cancer rates decline

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have completed a comprehensive analysis of cancer statistics for different age groups ...
Treating genetic disorders before birth: Prenatal and newborn genetic screening is surging

Treating genetic disorders before birth: Prenatal and newborn genetic screening is surging

William Haseltine |
Advances in modern medicine allow us to treat fetuses and newborn babies for genetic or inherited diseases. Recent studies have ...
How might humans evolve if we colonized Mars

How might humans evolve if we colonized Mars

Tom Hale |
[H]ow will our fragile Earth-borne bodies react if we were to live on another planet like Mars? ... Even if ...
Viewpoint: Sociogenomics—Challenging the ethics of IQ-based gene selection

Viewpoint: Sociogenomics—Challenging the ethics of IQ-based gene selection

Isabelle Bartram, Peter Wehling, Tino Plümecke |
[A] US start-up that offers eugenic embryo selection. Heliospect Genomics aims to enable wealthy couples to select the “most intelligent” ...
Most mammals are hairy. Why not humans?

Most mammals are hairy. Why not humans?

Luis Prada |
Humans are members of a weirdly exclusive club of mostly naked mammals, sharing that honorable distinction with the likes of ...
Girls physically mature years earlier than boys. Does that mean they develop faster cognitively, too?

Girls physically mature years earlier than boys. Does that mean they develop faster cognitively, too?

Simon Gramvik |
“It has long been known that girls reach puberty earlier than boys, that they become physically mature earlier. However, we ...
Viewpoint: The science of reversing aging remains little more than a dream. Here’s why

Viewpoint: The science of reversing aging remains little more than a dream. Here’s why

Eric Topol |
The dream of reversing aging has captivated humans for centuries, and today science is closer than it ever has been ...
‘If our genetic differences are part of what makes us human, do we have the right — or the responsibility — to change them?

‘If our genetic differences are part of what makes us human, do we have the right — or the responsibility — to change them?

Clea Simon |
With CRISPR technology, scientists can now edit both somatic genes (from the body) and germline genes (from gametes, the sex cells ...
v facts and fallacies cameron and liza default featured image outlined

GLP podcast: ‘Industrial’ food is very nutritious; Porn might be harmful; Love of music is (partially) in your genes

Cameron English, Liza Dunn |
This week on Facts and Fallacies, a farmer and plant geneticist refutes activist claims that modern agriculture drastically reduces nutrient ...
The octopus within us: Cephalopods and humans share genes that began shaping intelligence dating back 518 million years

The octopus within us: Cephalopods and humans share genes that began shaping intelligence dating back 518 million years

Arezki Amiri |
New research suggests that octopuses and humans may share an ancient evolutionary connection that helps explain the remarkable intelligence of cephalopods. According to findings discussed ...
Should we be concerned about low birth rates in the most developed countries?

Should we be concerned about low birth rates in the most developed countries?

Emile Wee |
"Societies experiencing falling birth rates and an increasing elderly population will eventually need to shift resources and labour from caring ...
Symbol of Injustice and the culture wars: Volleyball trans athlete and her teammates are caught in the middle

Symbol of Injustice and the culture wars: Volleyball trans athlete and her teammates are caught in the middle

Jason Zengerle |
Blaire Fleming, a senior, was a starter for the San Jose State University Spartans. For most of her college career, ...
The ‘fertilization president’ guts CDC IVF research

The ‘fertilization president’ guts CDC IVF research

Abigail Brooks, Berkeley Lovelace Jr. |
The elimination of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Assisted Reproductive Technology Surveillance team ... shocked public health experts ...
Viewpoint: In response to Conservative critics, Iowa is dumbing down school curriculum science standards

Viewpoint: In response to Conservative critics, Iowa is dumbing down school curriculum science standards

Isabella Luu |
Iowa’s current draft of its K-12 science standards, which include changing the word “evolution” to “biological change over time” drew ...
‘Holding back scientific process’: Chinese scientist widely condemned for gene-hacking a baby attacks what he calls naive ethical standards

‘Holding back scientific process’: Chinese scientist widely condemned for gene-hacking a baby attacks what he calls naive ethical standards

Noor Al-Sibai |
It's been nearly three years since controversial Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui was released from prison for gene-hacking human babies — and ...
Viewpoint: Natalcon—Behind the scenes at the rightwing conference advancing a strategy to surge government support for increasing the U.S. birthrate

Viewpoint: Natalcon—Behind the scenes at the rightwing conference advancing a strategy to surge government support for increasing the U.S. birthrate

Daniel Colligan |
Widespread concern about falling birth rates has prompted some to politically organize around reversing their decline. Representatives of this pronatalist movement ...
Animals have developed a mind-boggling variety of ways to become male or female.

Animals have developed a mind-boggling variety of ways to become male or female.

Hannah Thomasy |
[S]o far, researchers have uncovered a dizzying array of exceptions to the XX/XY “rule:” birds and butterflies that use the ZW system, in ...
Here’s a visual tour of what makes the human brain distinct from our ape relatives

Here’s a visual tour of what makes the human brain distinct from our ape relatives

The human brain isn't just distinguished by its problem-solving abilities. It's also designed to deeply process emotions and social interactions, ...
Modern humans overlapped with at least seven now extinct hominid ancestors, and in many cases integrating their DNA

Less than 1,300—Our human ancestors were on the verge of extinction one million years ago

Joseph Shavit |
[A] groundbreaking study published in the journal Science sheds new light on a dramatic event that nearly erased humans from existence ...
Viewpoint: Hard-wired gender—Don’t believe ideological claims that there are almost no sex differences in how males and females think

Does pornography alter your brain?

Danielle Sukenik |
Statistics show pornography to be commonplace: A 2018 study found that 91.5% of men and 60.2% of women had consumed it ...