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
What do ‘non-identical’ identical twins have to do with COVID-19? Mutations!
Identical twins Stella and Desiree Vignes were born in 1938 in a Louisiana town so small that it wasn’t on ...
On the edge of life and death: CPR patients report vivid near-death experiences
NYU researchers measured signals of brain activity and collected stories from patients on the edge of death ...
Treating mental health disorders: Is CRISPR a long-hoped-for silver bullet?
“I was born with the murder gene.” That’s the chilling statement in a true-life story featured in Esquire years ago ...
Multiple evolutions? Does all life on Earth descend from the primordial soup or have different insects, plants and animals evolved separately but concurrently?
Did life evolve more than once? The origin of life is a central question in modern biology, and probably the ...
‘Unlocking creative potential’: Why the first 10 minutes of sleep are so important
There is a stage of sleep where we still have a toe in the waking world — remaining able to ...
Could a cup of yogurt replace a colonoscopy? Engineered bacteria can detect and deliver treatment for some pre-cancerous colorectal polyps
A cup of yogurt — containing engineered bacteria that can detect and deliver a treatment for colorectal polyps or cancer ...
The Transcendent Brain: How spirituality and science can work together to explain the human experience
We may have mystical moments science can’t explain, but Alan Lightman still believes in a universe ruled by natural law ...
GLP podcast/video: Nutrition myths, debunked; Could ChatGPT spread vaccine misinfo? Treating mental illness with CRISPR might be a bad idea
The public accepts a lot of myths about nutrition. Let's examine 10 of the most common, but scientifically dubious ideas ...
With COVID cases rising, grand-standing legislators propose criminalizing mRNA vaccines or banning mask-wearing
It is not uncommon for legislators to introduce bills that they know won’t pass but that have symbolic value of ...
Sweetness and bitterness: The evolutionary story of how our sense of taste evolved
The sweetness of sugar is one of life’s great pleasures. People’s love for sweet is so visceral, food companies lure ...
Genetic doppelgängers? Identical twins separated apart can be very much alike or very different. Here’s why
What do the lives of twins tell us about heritability, selfhood and the age-old debate between nature and nurture? ...
Mask up again? As COVID cases rise, look to science and not pundits
I can’t believe we’re having this discussion in September 2023, just as the fall respiratory virus season commences, but the ...
Science vs spirituality: The case of the severed head
There’s a ghastly severed head in St Robert’s Roman Catholic church, just down the road from me in Catforth, northern ...
Viewpoint: ‘Public fixation on human extinction from AI could distract from AI’s more immediate harms’
A public fixation on extinction from AI could empower industry insiders and distract from AI’s more immediate harms ...
Viewpoint: AI is evolving too fast for existing regulatory frameworks to keep pace. Here’s a possible solution
AI is evolving too fast for existing regulatory frameworks to keep pace. Intellectual property law may hold a solution ...
GLP podcast and video: Curing deadly diseases with mRNA; COVID killed more Republicans than Democrats? WaPo promotes ‘acupuncture pseudoscience’
The same technology behind the mRNA COVID shots could also yield groundbreaking treatments for wide-ranging diseases. A new study posits ...
First synthetic human embryo to live past 14 days was made from stem cells
A Cambridge University scientist says her research lab has used stem cells to create a human embryo that developed past ...
We could use CRISPR to cure mental illness. Should we?
Would you want to be cured of a disorder that most people consider debilitating if given the opportunity? Cancer? Sure ...
Can OpenAI prevent vaccine conspiracy theories from bubbling up in ChatGPT conversations?
The chatbot has some guardrails in place to curb disinformation, but it’ll be a game of constant catch-up ...
Viewpoint: What role can and should genetics play in understanding which people might become violent and commit crimes — and putting them in jail?
Using biology to understand criminal behavior has long been controversial. Top criminology programs are pursuing it anyway ...
During the COVID pandemic, Republicans in Ohio and Florida had a higher mortality rate than Democrats
A study confined to COVID deaths in Florida and Ohio suggests that the Grim Reaper’s “excess” deaths, when stratified by ...
The ‘great sex’ debate: Technique or connection?
The unhappiest time in a sex therapist’s office is around Valentine’s Day, says Dr. Peggy Kleinplatz, a professor in the ...
Viewpoint: GOP Congressmen continue to question safety of the COVID vaccine, raising concerns of feeding vaccine hesitancy
Vaccine skeptics run the gamut from individuals with scientific credentials who nevertheless oppose public health policies from a libertarian perspective ...
Viewpoint: ‘Animal individualism’ ― Why picking and choosing which animal species should survive or die is a terrible idea
How should humans care for the beings that share the planet with us? This is one of the defining questions of ...
Viewpoint: ‘We believe we have developed the first organism that can’t be infected by any known virus’
Researchers at George Chuch’s Harvard lab have genetically engineered a bacteria, E. coli, to be totally immune to viruses ...
Viewpoint: UFOs are in fashion again. Does latest surge in sightings suggest that aliens are amongst us?
Webzine Debrief published startling claims: US government and its allies have in their possession "intact and partially intact craft of ...
What are the prospects that we might soon face another coronavirus-like viral pandemic?
There are signs of a mid-summer surge in COVID-19 cases, particularly in the Midwest and West, that have some experts ...
