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
In Trump administration redirect, U.S. steers NIH sharply away from biodefense and pandemic preparedness
When the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) released its strategic plan for the next five years (2026–2030), ...
Health misinformation minefield: Countering online deluge by copying its style
Imagine you’re worried about vaccinating your baby. A message on Facebook tells you: “Protect the community and your kids by ...
Victims of their own success: As memories of killer diseases fade, vaccine rejectionism soars
Three measles-related deaths have been reported in England in 2026. One child died from an acute infection, another from the ...
Testosterone’s growing appeal to women: It anecdotally mildly improves sex life, but are there any other potential benefits—or red flags?
A recent BBC report described women posing as men to get hold of testosterone gel, hoping to improve their menopause ...
RFK Jr.’s EPA capitulates to anti-abortionists, authorizes study of safe abortion pills which activists falsely claim are “poisoning” our water supply
After pressure from anti-abortion advocates, Republican lawmakers and state officials, the Environmental Protection Agency announced this month that it will ...
Viewpoint: ‘Statistical murder’: Kennedy’s expanding record of “duplicity and mendacity”
Public health disasters do not always begin with a new pathogen. Sometimes they begin with a government official who teaches ...
Vaccine-preventable congenital infections are a leading driver of autism
Kids born with certain congenital infections are approximately three times more likely to be diagnosed as having autism, according to ...
Anti-vaxxers’ double whammy: Exaggerated vaccine fears have fueled measles outbreaks and preventable deaths—and left survivors more vulnerable to other infections for years
Measles infections make people miserable for up to two long weeks, commonly causing dangerously high fevers, a painful sensitivity to ...
Viewpoint: Wellness patches: Most vitamin supplements are useless and sometimes even dangerous, but this craze is even worse
Promoted as high-tech nutrient delivery, over-the-counter vitamin patches are rapidly gaining popularity among consumers looking to bypass daily capsules. However, ...
Facts & Fallacies podcast: America’s health care system is broken. A doctor explains how to fix it, Part 2
America’s health care apparatus is caught in a downward spiral of bureaucratic bloat, runaway expenses and eroding patient care. On ...
Viewpoint: Hijacking Jesus: How anti-vaccine fanatics are exploiting religious exemptions and killing children
Between 1990 and 1991, Philadelphia suffered a large measles epidemic. About 1,400 children were infected, hundreds were hospitalized, and 9 ...
Widely condemned as unethical, hepatitis B vaccine study funded by RFK Jr’s CDC gets a final greenlight
The University of Southern Denmark confirmed that it has given the green light to a controversial study in Guinea-Bissau, funded ...
31 states have passed a patchwork of laws to limit election deepfake commercials. They’re not working very well.
Imagine watching a political campaign video in which a candidate admits to taking a bribe. You recognize the face and ...
Trump wants an AI Force like Space Force, but that could make AI’s risks harder to manage
Artificial intelligence dominated the opening of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sept. 22, 2026. Ahead of the ...
‘Forever chemical’ concerns: Separating hysteria from reasonable concern in the debate over PFAS danger
PFAS have become a flashpoint in the debate over public health, environmental protection, and chemical regulation—but are millions of very ...
Should fossil fuel companies be shielded from lawsuits over climate change damage? The Supreme Court takes up the question
Climate change is causing billions of dollars’ worth of damage every year from floods, fires, droughts and other consequences of ...
Viewpoint: Wellness movement activists reposition nicotine from a killer addictive drug into a cure-all for brain ills
An ironic development emerging alongside the “Make America Healthy Again” movement is the portrayal of nicotine as a wellness and ...
The kooky logic behind the raft of spurious cancer claims from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health
It would shock you to know that Costco, according to a new Harvard School of Public Health methodology, caused 120,687 ...
‘They misunderstand science’: Research attempting to tie autism to changes in the gut microbiome comes under fire
Obesity, liver disease, diabetes, and cancer are all chronic diseases that inflict misery across millions of patients. Imagine if bacteria ...
Viewpoint: Even lousy scientific articles can shield authors when they hype dubious health claims and products
Peer review in reputable journals gives scientific claims an authority that commercial speech rarely enjoys. But what happens when scientists ...
The exploding controversy over AI’s built-in survival drive
In controlled safety tests described earlier this year, researchers asked AI models to solve a series of simple math problems ...
Viewpoint: SCOTUS poised to address First Amendment tension between mandatory vaccines, children’s health and religious freedom
A mother in New York State who claims to oppose vaccines because of her Catholic faith lost an emergency appeal ...
Viewpoint: Activist environmental NGOs are turning from public funding to activist billionaires to support their campaigns. It won’t end well.
Environmental-Health Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are going through a difficult period with the decline in public funding, the increase in scrutiny ...
‘We are dangerously addicted to antidepressants’: Should we heed RFK Jr.’s sobering warning?
Drugs for treating depression are among the most prescribed category of medications in the U.S. – 1 in 6 American adults ...
Viewpoint: Why do online health lies outlive the evidence that debunks them? Read “Everyone Else Is Lying to You”
Medical misinformation has a peculiar advantage: it can outlive the evidence that disproves it, especially when yesterday’s contrarians become today’s ...
Viewpoint: The fake controversy over whether combining childhood vaccines is dangerous— a debate science resolved 25 years ago
For inexplicable reasons, the vaccine spacing debate has popped up yet again, courtesy of President Trump's executive order revisiting childhood ...
Investigative group ProPublica finds links between ectopic pregnancy deaths and abortion bans
This story was originally published by ProPublica. The number of women who died after an ectopic pregnancy has spiked in recent ...
