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: ‘Science-as-Satan’ unites the MAHA—MAGA movements. Is a breakup in the works?
The MAHA agenda had a bit of a wake-up call following the EPA’s approval of the herbicide dicamba. I think ...
AI disinformation stress test: Challenges and response strategies
To solve big problems and navigate a chaotic world, we first need a clear, shared understanding of the facts. Today, ...
The Trump administration has run out more than 4,000 National Institutes of Health employees. Here are the consequences
Marc Ernstoff, a physician who has pioneered immunotherapy research and treatments for cancer patients, said his work as a federal ...
Why ‘support supplements’ for GLP-1 users are mostly a waste of money
Weight-loss injections have rapidly moved from specialist clinics to social media feeds and high-street pharmacies. Known as GLP-1 medications, they ...
Doctors needs nutrition classes? A physician unmasks another MAHA myth
To hear RFK, Jr. talk about medical school, you may think doctors enter health care oblivious to basic facts about ...
Viewpoint: How do you sell evidence-based health and science in a world where facts don’t matter?
[B]efore whatever this period is, the idea that public resistance to science was essentially a knowledge problem — that more information “fixed” ...
Viewpoint: ‘Make America Healthy Again” appeals to fake nostalgia about non-existent golden age
“Make America healthy again” sounds like a great slogan. It is loaded with nostalgia and … haziness. What is that ...
Ban the ads? Should government restrict prescription drug commercials?
Tamar Abrams had a lousy couple of years in 2022 and ’23. Both her parents died; a relationship ended; she ...
RFK, Jr. was approved as HHS secretary only because doctor-senator Bill Cassidy cast the deciding vote. Anti-vaxxers are now gunning for him
The ambitious liver doctor would go just about anywhere in his home state to give people the hepatitis B vaccine ...
GLP podcast: Miracle drug? Tech bros inflate depression-fighting effects of psychedelic 5-MeO-DMT
The greater the media hype around psychedelics, the more skeptical you should be. A perfect example of why this skepticism ...
Viewpoint: Is Trump turning against RFK, Jr.’s vaccine rejectionism?
Every fall, I scramble to get my garden hoses into storage before the first deep freeze. Like clockwork, every spring, ...
Shilajit Ayurvedic sex drive-boosting myth: Tar-like ooze extracted from Himalayan rocks doesn’t work
Shilajit is the latest supplement marketed online as a “natural testosterone booster”. Promoted by influencers, wellness brands and biohacking communities, ...
Viewpoint: Researchers claiming living near nuclear energy causes cancer botched their research
In December 2025, researchers led by Yazan Alwadi at Harvard’s T.H Chan School of Public Health published a paper in ...
Viewpoint — RFK, Jr. vs. fluoride: The next big health brawl—science be damned
The EPA recently took its first step toward determining safe levels of fluoride in drinking water, publishing a "Preliminary Assessment ...
Hypnagogic state: The twilight zone between sleep and wakefulness is a creative sweet spot. Here’s how you can make it work for you
The Beatles’ song Yesterday was written in what psychologists refer to as the “hypnagogic state”. This is the twilight zone ...
Netflix plastic documentary is scare nonsense packaged as science
Netflix, which has made simplified propaganda many times before (See: Dopesick), sticks to a familiar formula in a thoroughly slanted ...
GLP podcast: Overdose crisis—Illicit opioids spread like drug-resistant bacteria?
The harder the government cracks down on a drug, the more deadly its illicit replacement that emerges from the black ...
Viewpoint: Is vaping a pathway to tobacco addiction or quitting tobacco altogether? It depends
In November, I got a LinkedIn message from a consultant who works for one of the major vape (aka e-cigarette) ...
Microplastic scare claims take another turn—Study suggests lab gloves may be key culprit
It seems like every day a new study finds tiny plastic particles called microplastics where they should not be: in ...
Viewpoint: Worried about Big Ag and Big Pharma? They’re nothing compared to the grifting hypocrisy of the MAHA wellness movement
RFK Jr. rails endlessly against Big Pharm and Big Food. And, in many instances, for good reason. But there is ...
From ideology to engineering: As green opposition to nuclear energy softens, the debate shifts to what can scale
For years, the country’s major environmental groups stood shoulder to shoulder against nuclear power. That unanimity may be starting to ...
How liberal Paul Ehrlich’s 1970s “Population Bomb” panic helped shape today’s anti-immigration ideology
Paul Ehrlich opened his 1968 book “The Population Bomb” with a scene recounting returning to his hotel through a crowded ...
A longer leash on life: The no longer quixotic quest to extend our dogs’ golden years
Dog owners do many things to keep our canine companions happy and healthy, and I’m no exception. I flew from ...
‘No fury like scorned MAHA moms’: Will RFK, Jr.’s anti-vaccine policies tear coalition apart?
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is fielding pressure from the White House to relax his controversial ...
Viewpoint: There are dangerous consequences to firing credible scientists and gutting U.S. health agencies
In the past year, more than half of the leaders of the Institutes and Centers (IC) at the National Institutes ...
Congress created a mechanism to address rare vaccine injuries. RFK, Jr. is poised to tear it apart
For nearly four decades, Americans who believe they have been harmed by a vaccine have had access to a little-known ...
Viewpoint: In defense of plastics (and a rebuttal of ideology-infused misinterpretations of risk science)
Close observers will note that journalists in the legacy press have a perplexing habit of engaging in outright activism for ...
