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
Prenatal diagnosis story shows challenge of genetics reporting
The New England Journal of Medicine reported this week that prenatal diagnosis with gene chips is superior to conventional chromosome ...
Geneticists and physicists collaborate on a DNA dark matter detector
DNA may help out in the hunt for dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up 25 percent of the ...
UK could miss out on the genomics revolution
The UK has a huge opportunity to lead the world in disease discovery, treatments and cures. But support from the ...
Genetic screening: Do you really want to know what might eventually kill you?
Americans spend more than $5 billion annually on genetic testing for everything from Alzheimer's to breast cancer to Huntington's disease, ...
Science 2.0 founder Hank Campbell responds to Neo-eugenics
Eugenics is attempting a 21st-century comeback. This has a lot of people scared. But it also has a lot of ...
New eugenics and the question of personal choice
Eugenics is back in the headlines. Our ability to examine and manipulate our genes is more advanced than ever. But ...
Harvard’s Richard Lewontin mangles population genetics review
Discover's blogger Razib Khan's dissects Harvard evolutionary biologist Richard Lewontin's biologically troublesome take-down of two books on "Jewish genetics". Lewontin ...
Human enhancement: Resistance is futile?
In the next few decades we may well see see technology currently used to aid the sick and disabled -- ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
