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
First gene therapy to go on sale in 2013
The first gene therapy to be approved in a regulated market was announced by the European Commission. The therapy, available ...
Frozen egg banks – A “paradigm shift” for the fertility industry?
Advertising for frozen egg banks has recently kicked into high gear. The spread of large frozen egg banks also see ...
Arthur R. Jensen, who sparked debate about the genetics of IQ, dies
Jensen is most famous for arguing that the gap in intelligence tests between blacks and whites was due to genetic ...
Center for Genetics and Society escalates attack on life-saving gene therapy
CGS, a "progressive" but uber conservative-minded advocacy group that opposes many medical technology innovations is continuing its campaign against gene ...
Children and DNA
DNA provides the operating instructions for our cells that influence everything from a person’s hair color to susceptibility to disease ...
Political incorrectness alert: Genes and hormones likely influence women’s votes
CNN has been widely ridiculed this week for posting and quickly taking down a story about new research regarding how ...
Eugenics reconsidered
Eugenics was embraced and even promoted by progressives 100 years ago as a tool to make the world a better ...
Craig Venter’s vision to print life, generate vaccines
Craig Venter imagines a future where you can download software, print a vaccine and inject it at home, contagion averted ...
Geneticists developing hens resistant to flu deadly to humans
Research scientists at Australia's national science research agency are using a technique called gene silencing to “switch off” virus genes ...
DNA evidence may not be an open and shut case
The belief that DNA samples mark out individuals like an infallible biological barcode is powerful. But the process of tying ...
Claim of first human stem cell trial unravels
Claims by a Japanese scientist to have run a clinical trial in which reprogrammed cardiac muscle cells grown from induced ...
Race and intelligence
There is no more explosive issue in human genetics than the issue of race and IQ. Ron Unz, a leading ...
Was Lamarck right? How epigenetics may work
While no biologist believes that organisms can willfully change their physiology in response to their environment and pass those changes ...
Genoeconomics: To uproar, researches say genetic diversity can predict economic success
A yet-to-be-published article in an upcoming issue of the prestigious American Economic Review by two economics professors, peer reviewed by ...
‘Genetic signatures’ may predict prostate cancer
Researchers have identified genetic "signatures" for aggressive prostate cancer (the second most common cause of death in men, after lung ...
ACLU asks Supreme Court to rule on gene patents
The ACLU has petitioned the US Supreme Court to review a Federal Circuit Court’s decision that an isolated DNA sequence ...
How genetics shape political beliefs
Studies of identical twins unequivocally demonstrate the heritability of politically related behavior. What they do not do, though, is explain ...
Anti-genetics NGO slams technique to eliminate hereditary diseases as unethical manipulation
The Center for Genetics and Society, which opposes gene modification on ideological grounds, is portraying as unethical a fertility treatment ...
Past and future: Re-examining Dolly the Sheep, the first cloned animal
Fifteen years ago, scientists in Edinburgh announced to the world an incredible breakthrough: the creation of the first cloned animal--a ...
DNA test for babies speeds diagnosis
A new technique for quickly analyzing the DNA of newborns zeros in on mutations that can cause disease, demonstrating that ...
Association between obesity and consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages
It's hardly shocking, but a National Institutes of Health funded study finds that people with a genetic proclivity for obesity ...
Zombie alert? Male DNA found in women’s brains might prevent disease
Male DNA found in the brains of women appears to have come from male fetuses they carried when pregnant, and ...
In breakthrough, geneticists find 4 distinct types of cancer leading to new treatments
In findings that are fundamentally reshaping the scientific understanding of breast cancer, researchers have identified four genetically distinct types of ...
Using race in medicine
Racial categories are currently ubiquitous in medicine and medical research. How are these categories determined? Is there uniformity from one ...
Genomic studies find all humans did not originate in East Africa
The largest study of genetic variance across present-day populations in southern Africa suggests that there is no single place in ...
What does the $1000 genome mean for you?
The cost of genome sequencing is starting to sink into the affordable range. Should you save up and get one? ...
Re-evaluating the junk DNA discovery
Over the last few days, several interesting blog posts and pieces have cast doubt on those front-page claims that our ...
