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
Teenage brains are a cauldron of change: Here’s what happens on the inside and how it affects our looks and behavior
A lot happens when you reach puberty. Your voice may change and you will experience hair growth on parts of ...
Podcast: BMI useless? Lab-grown meat a ‘pipe dream;’ Did early humans eat each other?
Using body mass index (BMI) to assess a patient's health may yield misleading results and undermine public trust in medicine, ...
Nature, nurture and old age: How much is the human lifespan driven by our genes?
The research used our old friend, the UK Biobank, a repository of genetic information on a large number of Brits, ...
Are Americans too complacent about a winter surge of COVID infections — and deaths?
To the old saying about the inevitability of death and taxes, we should add another: another health crisis linked to ...
‘U-shaped happiness curve’: Do people really get more content with life as they age?
On average, happiness declines as we approach middle age, bottoming out in our 40s but then picking back up as ...
‘The Day I Die’: One man’s struggle with Lou Gehrig’s disease and physician-assisted suicide
[An excerpt] from The Day I Die: The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America by Anita Hannig ...
Podcast: NYT attacks another scientist; How we got ‘GMO’ insulin; Why is gene therapy so costly?
The New York Times last week alleged that a high-profile scientist is in cahoots with the meat industry. Is there ...
Is human intelligence an evolutionary dead end?
The German Philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was, by all accounts, a miserable human being. He famously sought meaning through suffering, ...
‘Dead first’: Why American men are men more likely than Canadians, Australians and Brits to die prematurely
Whether it’s stubbornness, an aversion to appearing weak or vulnerable, or other reasons, men go to the doctor far less ...
Do you have frequent nightmares? They could foreshadow future dementia
We spend a third of our lives asleep. And a quarter of our time asleep is spent dreaming. So, for ...
Podcast: Pollution makes you fat? India approves more GMOs; Biological ‘push notifications’
Air pollution harms our health in many ways; does it also encourage obesity? Farmers in India have access to two ...
The increasingly bushy human family tree and five other paradigm-altering changes in our understanding of human evolution
From archaeological reconstructions of Neanderthals as stooped, hairy and brutish, to “cavemen” movies, our ancient ancestors got a bad press ...
New Zealand’s commitment to removing invasive animal predators opens the door to reconsidering its 20-year rejection of genetic modification
Aotearoa New Zealand, the Land of the Long White Cloud, is the first place to see the sunrise on a ...
Podcast: Seralini’s infamous rat study 10 years later — Looking back at the retracted research linking GM corn and glyphosate to cancer
Ten years ago the biotech world froze and horrific images of three tumor-ridden rats penetrated the media. Social media erupted ...
Viewpoint: Human insulin saga: Anomalous, successful 40-year history of the first genetically-modified medicine underscores how regulators can scuttle innovation
October 29th marks the 40th anniversary of one of biotechnology’s most significant milestones — the approval by the FDA of ...
Here is when and how humans attained ‘behavioral modernity’
For 200,000-300,000 years after Homo sapiens first appeared, tools and artefacts remained surprisingly simple, little better than Neanderthal technology, and simpler than ...
Genetic basis of mental illness: Individual genetics and ‘racial’ ancestry impact mental illness, but most studies have focused only on white people
Mental illness is a growing public health problem. In 2019, an estimated 1 in 8 people around the world were affected ...
Oldest known human skeleton suggests humans began walking on two feet 7 million years ago in break from our ape-like common ancestors
The study of present-day species has delivered a clear verdict on humanity’s place in the living world: right alongside chimpanzees ...
Podcast: ‘Botched’ nutrition reporting; Alcohol abstinence boosts brain health; What causes acne?
Reporters continue to exaggerate the results of low-quality nutrition studies. Their desire to attract readers with dramatic headlines may be ...
Rethinking human enhancement: Is aging a disease?
In 1851, blacks throughout the US were reported to suffer from a disease called “drapetomania.” The symptoms—a white physician argued—were bouts ...
Diversity, inclusion and the Human Pangenome Project: Why capturing human genome diversity in our 4-letter language is such a big deal
“Pan” has several meanings. As a noun, it refers to “a round metal container that often has a long handle ...
Here’s why humans grow two sets of teeth
You only get 52 teeth in your lifetime: 20 baby teeth, followed by 32 adult teeth. It’s not like that ...
Viewpoint: COVID misinformation inspires sense of ‘deja vu’ for survivors of HIV/AIDS crisis
Since health officials confirmed the first COVID-19 cases, misinformation has spread just as quickly as the virus ...
Podcast: Science Facts and Fallacies host debates body positivity activists on ‘Dr. Phil’
Science Facts and Fallacies host Cameron English recently appeared on the Dr. Phil show to tackle an incendiary question: Has ...
Crazy but not insane? How much of criminal behavior is personal decisions versus cultural influences or genes?
On May 7th, 1972, Arthur Shawcross raped and murdered 10-year-old Jack Blake in Watertown, New York. Four months later, on ...
Gene therapy approvals now at four with treatments for inherited anemia and degenerative brain condition — but costs are stratospheric. Why?
The FDA recently approved two gene therapies with hefty price tags, the first for an inherited anemia and the second ...
Ideology and happiness: Who is more content with life, conservatives or liberals?
It may be one of the most surefire findings in all of social psychology, repeatedly replicated over almost five decades of study: ...
