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: ‘Only in California could coffee both cause and prevent cancer’
Welcome to California, the Wild West - geographically and otherwise. Especially when it comes to science ...
Viewpoint: Anatomy of junk science—Dissecting yet another attempt by activist scientists to ‘link’ vaccines to autism
A newly published study is being widely circulated, purportedly showing a link between vaccines and autism. A closer look at ...
Meet Darryl: What would 24 hours with a health-integrated personal AI assistant look like?
Darryl, my Personal Assistant 2.0 bot, woke me up at the end of a light sleep cycle with some gentle ...
Why the 3-D revolution has stalled
The so-called “disruptive” technology that is 3D printing, now in its thirties, [seems] to be coming back into fashion. Yet, ...
‘Your spatula will kill you’: How a junk academic journal and a credulous media touched off yet another chemophobia scare
For months, the media indulged in a frenzy of fearmongering, plastering headlines about toxic flame retardants supposedly hiding in your ...
Race and evolution: How our political beliefs about human differences endanger health care
W[/drocap]hen it comes to race and ethnicity, we’ve long been juggling sociocultural constructs like they’re scientific gospel. A new study ...
Top 10 anti-biotech organizations: Meet the most notorious groups pushing anti-science propaganda
What can explain the recent meteoric rise in anti-science beliefs? Under the guise of advocating for consumer transparency or protecting ...
Fat… and yet fit? Here’s the skinny
As Fox Sports reported in 2016, the average weight of a starting NFL linesman was 315 pounds, aggregating to over 25 ...
GLP podcast: Will RFK, Jr. restore or destroy public trust in science and medicine?
According to 2024 Gallup polls and Pew Research Surveys, just 22% of U.S. adults trust the federal government, only one-third ...
Viewpoint: New Health and Human Services Secretary RFK, Jr. — America’s health, food and farming nightmare begins
Without question, the United States of America leads the world in health and agricultural innovation. We have created a system ...
Does the US uniquely require more vaccinations than other countries as RFK Jr. and other shot critics claim?
Issue: Childhood vaccination rates fell worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, reductions in childhood vaccination were not universal, which may ...
Are vaccines ‘pushed on us’ because they are mega-money makers for doctors?
"Ask your pediatrician how much their bonuses are when they gaslight you into thinking your child needs vaccines." Posts like ...
GLP podcast: Africa needs ‘regenerative’ farming, activists say; Time to ban menthol cigarettes? Trump wrong to leave World Health Organization?
Some public health experts claim that banning menthol cigarettes will save hundreds of thousands of lives. Are they right, or ...
Are you a fervent reader? It’s likely genetic
The number of people who read for fun appears to be steadily dropping. Fifty percent of UK adults say they ...
What happens when anti-vax ideology moves from the fringe to the halls of power? Will measles just be the opening act?
ith the presumptive ascension of RFK Jr. to Health and Social Services Secretary bringing along his history of anti-vax activities, ...
Viewpoint: The ‘post genomic era’ reveals nothing less than a new biology. We just don’t know how to talk about it
You could be forgiven for thinking that the turn of the millennium was a golden age for the life sciences ...
Viewpoint: New York Times cancels unorthodox columnist Pamela Paul known for challenging ideological orthodoxy
I am pretty sure I predicted this, though I’m not going to trawl back through my posts to see for ...
Breakthrough technologies: Global poll highlights embrace of AI in health care, gene editing and cell based meat, although optimism of U.S. respondents lags
Scientific advances will only succeed if people are willing to embrace them. Leaps by Bayer (the company’s impact investment arm) ...
Dietary restriction or good genes—Which has a greater impact on lifespan?
As people who research ageing like to quip: the best thing you can do to increase how long you live ...
GLP podcast: Trump pardons ‘drug kingpin’; Downside of ‘do your own research’; IVF clinic swaps embryos
Ross Ulbricht was poised to spend the rest of his life in prison for running an illicit online drug market ...
Readers beware: AI vaccums up information from the internet and spews it out
If you have used Google lately and been lucky – or unlucky – enough to encounter an answer to your ...
Viewpoint: “The sheer number of vaccines pumped into kids today is alarming’—Why activist claims are wrong and dangerous
This is not a new refrain, especially for those of us who work in infectious disease biomedical research, but a ...
The real causes for the ‘surge’ in austim diagnoses—Facts that RFK. Jr. and other vaccine rejectionists continue to get wrong
A change in how we diagnose and report autism and not vaccines, glyphosate or chemtrails is the prime mover as ...
Viewpoint: Here is why Trump’s announced plan to stop US contributions to the World Health Organization will kill people
I just spent the past 12 hours traveling from Delhi to Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India, and during our ...
CIA’s cautious (and dubious) embrace of COVID-19 lab leak theory is likely to spur more controversy, not end it
The calamitous global outbreak of COVID-19 has sparked intense scrutiny of its origins. One school of thought holds that the ...
Viewpoint: Europe is rushing to regulate microplastics and activists are clamoring for the U.S. to follow suit. Good science or environmental folly?
When regulating toxic substances, we first identify a risk (aim), and then, and only then, take action to reduce that ...
Your cells are dying. All the time.
Billions of cells die in your body every day. Some go out with a bang, others with a whimper. They ...
