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
Cut carbs? Eat less, move more? Why the spat between low carbers and calorie counters is pointless
Part of my introduction to nutrition was reading books my mom picked up second-hand at rummage sales back in England ...
It’s not going away: We need a real, non-political debate about the best way to live with COVID or countries will fracture
In 1968, at the height of the last great influenza pandemic, at least a million people worldwide died, including 100,000 ...
New England Journal of Medicine sets aside 200 years of politics, editorializing FDA and CDC have been compromised, calling political leadership ‘dangerously incompetent’
Covid-19 has created a crisis throughout the world. This crisis has produced a test of leadership. With no good options ...
Podcast: From Philadelphia to Baltimore—Tales of Chromosomes, Cancer Cells and Henrietta Lacks
In this episode we’re taking a road trip from Philadelphia to Baltimore, exploring stories of chromosomal cut-and-paste, cancer cures and ...
Viewpoint: The choosiness myth — Why are there fewer women in science?
In 1879, French polymath Gustave Le Bon wrote that even in “the most intelligent races” there “are a large number of ...
Infographic: 5 different ways COVID vaccines work
COVID vaccine hesitancy is on the rise, perhaps in the wake of pressure to speed approval beyond scientific reason. But I think ...
Video: Vaccine expert Paul Offit talks with Medscape’s Eric Topol on the pitfalls and promise of COVID ‘Operation Warp Speed’
[Editor's note: This interview can be watched in full at Medscape. Watch it here. Read a transcript of the interview ...
How anti-Semitism shaped the genes of Jewish people
Evidence of past outrages is not only in the history books. It's also written in our genomes ...
How COVID-19 resembles a sexually transmitted disease
Viruses walk a fine line between severity and transmissibility. If they are too virulent, they kill or incapacitate their hosts; ...
The Goldilocks phenomenon: Why as many as 45% of patients get COVID and show no symptoms
One of the reasons Covid-19 has spread so swiftly around the globe is that for the first days after infection, ...
Regenerative medicine and war: The next breakthrough in treating injured veterans?
Many Americans, and indeed people all over the world, were outraged when reports surfaced this past summer that President Trump ...
Artificial Intelligence’s Orwellian dangers – and what we should do about it
Individualistic western societies are built on the idea that no one knows our thoughts, desires or joys better than we ...
Using CRISPR to fight antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs’
The superbugs are winning the antibiotics wars. CRISPR could turn the tide ...
Podcast: The future of cancer care—How genomics is transforming research and treatment for all
In this episode, sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific, we’re taking a look at how genomic technologies are transforming cancer care ...
COVID has amped up our cortisol stress response. Here’s how you can manage your diet to control anxiety
Stress seems to be a common state of mind these days. With COVID-19 still very much present, and with solutions ...
Revisiting the Kon-Tiki hypothesis: Did ancient Americans really settle the Pacific?
An eccentric theory of human seagoing migration—made famous by one of the most insanely suicidal ‘scientific’ experiments ever undertaken—has recently ...
‘It’s all in the brain’: The science behind stuttering
Gerald Maguire has stuttered since childhood, but you might not guess it from talking to him. For the past 25 ...
‘Detecting consciousness’: Living with a missing cerebellum and other mysteries of the brain
Can electrical impulses in the brain explain the stuff that dreams are made of? ...
Why a coronavirus vaccine ‘October Surprise’ could be an October disaster
There is widespread anticipation of the availability of vaccines to prevent COVID-19 infections so that Americans can get their lives ...
Skeletons provide tell-tale glimpses into past mass infections and pandemics
Dead men do tell tales through their physical remains ...
‘Challenge studies’: Should we be testing COVID vaccines by intentionally infecting volunteers?
To those who’ve never thought about volunteering to be intentionally infected to test a vaccine, the idea may at first ...
Viewpoint: Rethinking ‘critical race theory’ — What happens when broad racialist viewpoints ‘invade’ science?
“Schœlcher n’est pas notre sauveur,” declared protestors who toppled statues on the French territory of Martinique earlier this year—“Schœlcher is not our savior.” The reference ...
Podcast: Where do babies come from? How developmental genetics revealed the secrets of life’s earliest stages
In this episode we’re going back to the very beginning, telling the stories of the midwives of the field of ...
Why COVID-19 hits men harder than women
When it comes to surviving critical cases of COVID-19, it appears that men draw the short straw. Initial reports from ...
Resurrection of phrenology? AI’s quest to link facial features and criminality has a shady Victorian legacy
'Phrenology’ has an old-fashioned ring to it. It sounds like it belongs in a history book, filed somewhere between bloodletting ...
The ‘Church of Nature’ and the sudden collapse of the cult of Extinction Rebellion
When a cult loses its grip on a person, a form of reawakening takes place. It involves having to return ...
Biotechnology timeline: Humans have manipulated genes since the ‘dawn of civilization’
The history of biotechnology shows how humans have been manipulating nature for our benefit for a long time—and how modern ...
Struggle to decide when kids should go back to school mirrors 1918 pandemic debate
During the influenza pandemic in 1918, even though the world was a very different place, the discussion [about whether to ...
