Human 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
Viewpoint: Vaccines’ non-specific effects? The โshoddyโ Danish couple whose ‘researchโ inspires RFK, Jr.โs health delusion
In 1996, Guinea-Bissau seemed like an ideal research post for budding pediatrician Lone Graff Stensballe. Her supervisor, a fellow Dane ...
Viewpoint: How Earthjustice became the poster child for the abuse of special interest activist funding
A recent US Department of the Treasuryย announcementย that organizations claiming tax exempt status (NGOs, foundations, universities and some media groups) will ...
Viewpoint: Who and whatโs to blame for the surge in vaccine-preventable diseases?
What causes an epidemic to spread? Donโt underestimate the power of rhetoric and oratory by politicians. About 1,500 measles cases ...
Viewpoint: Double standardโWhy does the wellness industry get a free pass while Big Healthcare is treated as morally suspect?
Despite public opinion, the wellness industry is profoundly and almost absurdly commercial. It sells, among its products and services, supplements, ...
Limiting gender affirming interventions: Trump administration targets Texas even though it already bans youth access
Since early 2025, the Trump Administration has sought to limit youth access to gender-affirming care, taking a comprehensive approach to ...
Viewpoint: Greenpeace and poison: How environmental advocacy groups rely on compliant (and often ignorant) journalists to spread disinformation and spark litigation
Here we go again. Greenpeace released aย reportย recently entitled Our Poisoned Land claiming 102 individual pesticides have been used across seven ...
Viewpoint: Can mRNA research survive the Trump administration?
In December 2020, mRNA vaccines leapt into the limelight as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, millions of ...
Sounds we canโt hear โ the hidden planetary signals behind science, fear, and misinformation
Most of us think of sound as something we can hear: music, speech, barking dogs, thunder, or the roar of ...
Can โSocial Stress Indicatorsโ help contain social media misfluencers?
Misleading information online is often treated as a technical glitch, something that better algorithms or stricter moderation can fix. Butย researchย points ...
Viewpoint: There are more than 1,000 chemicals in a cup of coffeeโincluding many substances that can cause cancer. Why isnโt it banned?
We live in a complex chemical landscape in which risks are notoriously difficult to evaluate. It can be pretty hairy ...
Viewpoint: Why the EPA mismeasures cancer risk of chemicals and what should be done to fix it
Every administration says it prioritizes getting the science right, and our current Administration has emphasized using โgold-standard scienceโ as the ...
โItโs not super usefulโ: As wariness about AI grows, Trump proposes rollback of healthcare safeguards
Paul Boyer, a psychotherapist for Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California, is experiencing the AI revolution firsthand. Heโs a little underwhelmed ...
Facts & Fallacies Podcast: Nicotine vapingโpublic health miracle, or risk to children? Professor Cliff Douglas
E-cigarettes burst onto the scene nearly 20 years, disrupting the cigarette industry and leaving anti-smoking advocates uncertain about how to ...
โTurbo cancerโ or mRNA cancer cure? Strategies to counter misinformation
Scientists are making rapid progress toward a long-awaited goal that could help to reshape cancer care:ย mRNA cancer vaccinesย with the potential ...
Gutting the National Science Board: How the Trump-RFK, Jr. crusade is erasing the separation of science and state
โOn behalf of President Donald J. Trump,โ readย 22 emails sent from the White Houseย Presidential Personnel Office on Friday afternoon, April ...
Viewpoint: NAD is the wellness grifters latest evidence-lite longevity fad. At least the mice are impressed.
NAD has been discussed in the wellness world for years. In 2019, Jennifer Aniston mentioned it in an interview with ...
Facts & Fallacies Podcast: Limit free speech to blunt social media misinfo?
Information, much of it false, spreads at lightning speed in todayโs digital age. The problem is more troubling than it ...
AI likely to improve health care, research showsโbut not for blacks and ethnic minorities
Artificial intelligenceย (AI)ย isย increasinglyย being integrated intoย health care,ย including but not limited to diagnosis and treatment plans, drug development, prediction of health risks and ...
Financial incentives, over diagnosis, and weak oversight: Autism claims are driving up Medicare costs
As we recently argued, the American healthcare systemโs structure of open-ended reimbursement, subjective diagnostic criteria, and fee-for-service billing creates powerful ...
The FDA couldnโt find a vaccine safety crisis, so it buried its own research
Corrupt and Unethical Leadership at the FDA There is a particular kind of government betrayal that arrives not with a ...
Viewpoint: The state of U.S. vaccine policy? Dismal nationally, but some states are stepping up.
[T]he chasm between what gets said on Capitol Hill and what actually ends up playing out in policy has never ...
Viewpoint: Will AI democratize personalized cancer treatment or fuel medical misinformation?
Artificial intelligence (AI) has made major advances in biomedical research. It has powered tools such as AlphaFold and systems that ...
Viewpoint: Are cancer rates โskyrocketingโ as RFK, Jr. and MAHA claim? The evidence says mostly the opposite
Clickbait headlines often obscure this reality and reinforce misunderstandings. For example, cancer is not a single disease; itโs a catchall ...
Viewpoint: How to counter science disinformation? Science journalist offers 12 practical tips
Science communications is not an easy task. You have to be comprehensive and concise, simplifying the message while not dumbing ...
Regulators’ dilemma: Thalidomide, Metformin, and the cost of getting drug approvals wrong
Umpiring in sport is a strange profession. A cricket umpire stands for hours under the sun, matching the stamina of ...
GLP podcast: Big Pharma, Big Ag, Big Foodโhealth harming industries or life-saving innovators?
Fossil fuels, pesticides and food processing have dramatically improved living standards around the globe. This may be a controversial claim, ...
Cooling the planet with balloons: Could a geoengineering gamble slow global warming?
The political momentum behind costly climate-change mitigation appears to be weakening, especially in the United States. President Donald Trump has ...
