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: ‘We are witnessing a full-scale assault on science in the U.S’. That will be RFK, Jr.โs legacy
Back in January, during the second day of confirmation hearings for secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy ...
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Report on Pediatric Gender Dysphoria and Gender Conversion Efforts
Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and ...
Blame human evolution for corporate jargon and thick academic prose
For anyone whoโs ever worked in a large organization, this kind of message will be depressingly familiar: โDo you have ...
GLP podcast: ‘It wasn’t a total train wreck.’ Breaking down the MAHA Commission Report
It wasn't a total train wreck. That's the best way to summarize the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission's May ...
Viewpoint: PFASโFluoropolymer panic shows how the activist-tort lawyer-media complex threatens a lifesaving medical technology
Early last year, the Environmental Working Group and the Green Science Policy Institute launched an attack on a family of ...
GLP podcast: Should doctors go to jail for prescribing opioids?
In the late 1990s, America began to see a dramatic uptick in the misuse of prescription opioids. Fueled by unethical ...
Viewpoint: RFK, Jr.โs Childrenโs Health Defense botches the science on mRNA vaccines. No, they donโt cause cancer
Last month, researchers published an important studyย about how mRNA COVID-19 vaccines affect our immune system. Theย findings are fascinating and highlight ...
Viewpoint: Health danger zone: The political and cultural rise of functional medicine and wellness grifters
From the anti-vaccine movement and COVID denialism to the promotion of raw pet food, the wellness-industrial complex has repeatedly shown ...
Viewpoint: Phase out petrochemical-based plastics in favor of paper to reduce carbon emissions? Scientists challenge activist dogma
The next time someone asks you:ย Will that be paper or plastic?ย think twice before you torch the planet by choosing the ...
Cracking cancerโs code: How science is weaponizing our immune system to target aggressive brain tumors
When Senator John McCain was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2017, it brought sudden national attention to a cancer few had ...
Viewpoint: Gutting the FDAโWhatโs at stake for public health
Recent reorganizations and "reductions in force" at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have damaged the very backbone of our ...
With malaria ravaging East Africa at a rising rate, European and U.S. backed anti-vaxxers target lifesaving vaccines
In early April, at the national launch of Uganda's malaria vaccine, 31-year-old Caroline Akot cradled her 9-month-old child, who had ...
Malaria and Africa: Could gene-edited gene drives contain the scourge or are they an ecological threat and a boon to global corporations?ย
Fifteen African countries are involved in a globally-funded project to test a developing technology known as gene drives to control ...
Viewpoint: โForever chemicalโ hustleโThe ‘dark moneyโโenvironmental groupโtort lawyer alliance that is scaring the public about PFAS chemicals and filling activist coffers
The mainstream media is being inundated with articles about โforever chemicalsโ invading our bodies and the environment. It is meant ...
Viewpoint: The wellness industry is rife with bad science and fraud. Itโs gaining traction
The wellness Industry has made a business of scaring people into thinking they are at risk from the benign and ...
Viewpoint: Hereโs how the MAGAโliberal ‘wellness warriors’ science disinformation ecosystem works
Tired of seeing evidence get steamrolled by vibes and wellness profiteering? Me too. We are currently living in an era ...
Gametes? Embryo? Fetus? There are 17 timepoints when a human life might begin
I wish that I could stop reposting this essay โ I do so whenever limitations on womenโs reproductive rights become ...
Viewpoint: More a vibe than a coalitionโRFK, Jr. rose to popularity with the support of gadflies, conspiracists and crystal healers. Are they turning on him?
After the Senate voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary, supporters of his โMake ...
No, farmers who use agricultural chemicals do not have higher cancer rates
There is now scientific consensus that pesticides cause cancer among farmers. This conclusion has been confirmed by the courts insofar ...
GLP Spaces on X: End public science fundingโsensible policy or sheer madness?
Is it time to eliminate public funding for scientific research? It's an undeniably radical proposal, but one supporters say is ...
X, Y, sex and gender: When genetics pulls a fast one
The spectrum of information that can be obtained by prenatal testing is wide and rapidly increasing. Many mutations, or "abnormalities," ...
GLP podcast: Common sense ‘out the window.’ Whistleblower Jamie Reed challenges safety, efficacy of ‘gender-affirming care’
We've all heard the claims about gender-affirming care. The effects of puberty blockers are reversible; most experts agree that medically ...
Viewpoint: Food dyes? Herbicides? Vaccines? โฆ Water? Yes, they are all toxic depending upon the circumstances so beware of scare claims
We are back at it with the next edition of Fundamental Elements, a new section of ImmunoLogic. The goal? Break ...
Viewpoint: Junk scienceโThe corrupting dangers of predatory journals, absent peer review and ideologically-tainted research
Unfortunately, junk science is quite common. Myriad systemic pressures have led to this point, but we now must face the ...
ViewpointโUndermining science: RFK, Jr.’s war on expertise
During the Senate confirmation hearings earlier this year, it became clear that the man nominated by Donald Trump to become ...
GLP spaces on X: Graying LadyโHow the New York Times and other outlets lost America’s trust
The public's faith in journalism has cratered over the last two decades. "Americans continue to register record-low trust in the ...
GLP podcast: NPR’s chemophobic hypocrisy; Could MAGA stifle mRNA vaccine progress? AI could shift human evolution
After years of flogging one chemical scare after another, NPR has abruptly changed its tune, defending Girl Scout cookies against ...
