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
Only cyber-humans could settle on other planets. Creating them is possible.
When considering human settlements on the Moon, Mars, and further afield, much attention is given to the travel times, food, ...
GLP podcast: Processed food doesn’t speed aging; Ozempic may treat addiction; When science journals won’t retract junk research
Does processed food speed up the aging process? A recent study says yes, but we have our doubts. The blockbuster ...
“I really want to take control over how I leave this world” — More terminally ill patients are deciding how they want to die
In the 18 months after Francine Milano was diagnosed with a recurrence of the ovarian cancer she thought she’d beaten ...
Psychedelic drugs offer healing potential, but slow legalization stalls wider use
An operations manager finds relief from her depression with the help of psilocybin, the primary psychoactive component of “magic mushrooms.” A ...
Much of what we’ve been told about secondhand smoke is wrong
In 2003, UCLA epidemiologist James Enstrom and I published a study of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)—also called "secondhand smoke" or "passive ...
Viewpoint: Why the entrenched environmental movement is incapable of solving the climate change crisis
Photo credit to Seaver Wang Every now and again, a series of events unfolds in such serendipitously perfect succession as ...
Human consciousness: How and why it evolved?
Why did the experience of consciousness evolve from our underlying brain physiology? Despite being a vibrant area of neuroscience, current ...
Viewpoint: Promotion of social science drivel by Science magazine editor-in-chief Holden Thorp undermines the credibility of his preeminent journal
Holden Thorp, the editor-in-chief of the prestigious journal Science, described on Substack a discussion that occurred during the recent meeting of the American Association ...
No-burp syndrome: 20,000 people on Reddit’s “I can’t belch” subreddit spread the word of a Botox cure
In a video posted to Reddit this summer, Lucie Rosenthal’s face starts focused and uncertain, looking intently into the camera, before ...
Viewpoint: The story of RP11, whose DNA mostly defines the first genetic blueprint of humanity
It sounds as if the donor knows who he is,” wrote Francis Collins, former director of the then-called National Center for ...
Humans are adapting to global warming. What are the policy implications
On [September 23rd, 2024], the New York Times ran a David Wallace-Wells column called “Our Adaptation to Global Warming Is Largely Fictional” featuring ...
Viewpoint: Elle MacPherson claims she cured her cancer using ‘intuitive and holistic’ alternative medicine. She’s ‘lying’ and why it matters
I’ve been wanting to start to dig into cancer pseudoscience for a long time, and in my other pieces, I’ve ...
Inching toward a global treaty on plastic pollution
Delegates from 175 nations are working on an international agreement that would tackle the vast amounts of plastic waste in ...
Viewpoint: Why environmental activists often block innovations that could help fight climate change?
Whether you know it or not, environmental activist groups are increasingly dictating how you live. They file costly lawsuits that ...
GLP podcast: Busting myths about seed oils; Can AI solve our loneliness epidemic? Idaho’s incendiary medical consent law for minors
Health influencers often declare that seed oils are driving an epidemic of non-communicable diseases. The science says otherwise. Can we ...
Rethinking the 10,000 year existential overlap of Neanderthals and modern humans
The idea that two different human species, Homo sapiens (us) and Neanderthals, coexisted in Western Eurasia 50,000–40,000 years ago has long captured ...
Viewpoint: Should doctors stop using ‘race’ when evaluating patients for treatment?
Embedded Bias: Doctors use problematic race-based algorithms to guide care every day. Why are they so hard to change? [Editors ...
AI is supercharging gene editing, slingshotting us into a future of creating new life
During her chemistry Nobel Prize lecture in 2018, Frances Arnold said, “Today we can for all practical purposes read, write and ...
GLP podcast: Psychedelics an overhyped depression cure? ‘Suicide pod’ used for the first time; Tuition-free medical school—blessing or curse?
A steady stream of studies and news stories has presented psychedelics as a game-changing therapy for depression. This may have ...
Viewpoint: The environmentalist case for Ecomodernism
The climate continues to change, driven now by human actions. As it does, the warnings grow more pressing, the heat ...
Decarbonization and meaningful climate mitigation is a long game
One of the long-standing tropes of climate politics in the United States is that as every presidential election comes into ...
Viewpoint: Hurricane-caused drug and IV fluid shortages expose a vulnerability in U.S. supply chains. Here’s a solution.
The recent storms that ravaged Florida and other states affected more than homes and infrastructure. Hurricane Helene inflicted significant damage ...
America’s abortion patients are traveling from state to state to navigate the changing patchwork of abortion restrictions
Soon after a series of state laws left a Planned Parenthood clinic in Columbia, Missouri, unable to provide abortions in ...
Florida’s anti-vaccine surgeon general takes his disinformation campaign on the road with RFK, Jr., anti-vaxxers, and Nazi-promoting ‘health specialists’
Florida has much going for it, but the state’s public health system doesn’t make the list. The opprobrium is largely ...
How do we know when we need to pee? It’s surprisingly complex — and can go awry as we age
You’re driving somewhere, eyes on the road, when you start to feel a tingling sensation in your lower abdomen. That ...
Mental illness is an under-reported, post-infection consequence of COVID. Here’s what you can do to mitigate your risk.
Misguided COVID-minimizers like to say that COVID-19 is no worse than a cold that lasts a few days and then ...
With the Chevron Doctrine overturned, the new ‘judicial veto’ of regulations will be bad for science and business
A colleague and I wrote about recent Supreme Court decisions that produced sweeping changes in how government regulation works in the ...
