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
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
‘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 ...
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? ...
Using race in medicine
Racial categories are currently ubiquitous in medicine and medical research. How are these categories determined? Is there uniformity from one ...
Could Bioimimicry solve global hunger?
Biomimicry or biomimetics is the examination of nature for inspiratioin order to solve human problems. The latest wave of biomimicry ...
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 ...
Genetic blueprint of unborn baby in sight
Sequencing the whole genome of a fetus could provide a medical early warning on a previously unknown scale - but ...
Transhumanism series premiers on web
A new high-profile digital series H+ portrays a world in the not-so-distant future in which transhumanism has moved from the ...
Personal genomics: New drugs target common cancers
Tens of thousands of Americans with tumors from certain types of lung cancer have mutations that might be treated by ...
Maverick ethics professor: “It’s our duty to have designer babies”
Julian Savulescu, the Oxford University professor of ethics controversially argues that “breeding better babies” is our human imperative ...
‘Gene switches’ in ‘junk DNA’ control human health
The human genome is packed with at least four million gene switches that reside in bits of DNA that once ...
Unsung heroes behind those big genomics breakthroughs
Sometimes, when scientific research is done right, it may also be completely invisible to the public, who may never know ...
DNA sleuths cure hospital infections
In one of the nation's most sophisticated hospitals, genome sequencing helped cure a deadly infection that spread through the hospital ...
