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
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: ...
Video: Viewpoint — Is challenging obese people to lose weight fat shaming?
Has the body positivity movement gone too far? That's the question Dr. Phil posed to me and five other panelists ...
Podcast: Industry-funded GMO studies; Food companies back ‘regenerative’ farming; Popcorn-flavored spinach?
Should we be skeptical of GMO safety studies funded by biotech companies? Major food makers including Pepsi and Nestle have ...
‘Neanderthal Man’ — Nobel Prize winner Svante Pääbo revolutionized anthropology. Here is a look back at his groundbreaking 2014 memoir
Svante Pääbo's memoir of how he came to lead a project to sequence the Neanderthal genome— Neanderthal Man: In Search ...
Here is the story behind Svante Pääbo’s Nobel Prize for sequencing the genome of Neandertals and discovering another ancestor, the Denisovans
I was thrilled to learn of the awarding of the 2022 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine to Svante Pääbo, ...
Could evolutionary forces help life on Earth persist in climate change-altered future environments?
Human impacts on global ecosystems can be severe, widespread and irreversible. But life on Earth has evolved to meet environmental ...
Ever felt the love between you and your partner was ‘meant to be’? Here’s the evolutionary reason
In this age of science, many people see supernatural forces as illusions rooted in wishful thinking. But love remains a ...
Podcast: CRISPR Cas13 gene editing; Eye transplants; Sex might drive our athletic and artistic ability
A new gene-editing technique may be safer and more reliable than CRISPR-Cas9, according to a recent study ...
Part II: Science and the courts clash over different views about human life and on what limits should be set on human embryo laboratory research
The US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision striking down the constitutional right to abortion (which has sparked a renewed debate over ...
Part I: 14 days or 28 — What should the standard be for research on lab-grown human embryos?
For four decades, scientists world-over have self-imposed a moratorium on doing laboratory research on human embryos 14 days post-fertilization. It's ...
Seeking a fertility treatment? With eggs and sperm now storable for half a century, here’s what you should know.
The UK government has just extended the period that gametes (eggs and sperm) and embryos can be stored from ten ...
How Africa’s genetic diversity can be harnessed to close the continent’s ‘drug and treatment gap’
“I have begged to just die.” Those were the words of Sadeh Sophia, a sickle cell disease patient. Although living ...
Podcast: Biden’s pro-biotech executive order; Vaccine mandates backfire; Courts v junk science
President Biden just signed an executive order promising substantial investment in the "bioeconomy." What impact will the proposal have on ...
With the first synthetic embryo nearing reality, what are the ethical ramifications?
In what’s reported as a world-first achievement, biologists have grown mouse embryo models in the lab without the need for ...
Viewpoint: In the post Roe v Wade world, what changes should a biology textbook writer make to address the medical repercussions of Dobbs?
I’ve published 38 editions of several college life science textbooks since 1982. All have covered human prenatal development and assisted ...
Differentiating between COVID misinformation and evolving science
With the announcement by Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control, that “The CDC has to ...
Could there ever be a vaccine for breast cancer?
Triple-negative breast cancer, about 10% of all breast cancers, is one of the most aggressive and deadliest forms of this ...
Podcast: Exercise builds gut health; US blocking COVID origins investigation? ‘Natural’ food is a scam
Keeping the microbes living in your gut healthy is important to your overall well-being, and recent research suggests that regular ...
Is your aging dog showing signs of forgetfulness? New insights on how canine brains age
Hana aced her memory test. After viewing the contents of three identical boxes arrayed in an arc on the back ...
‘You have to prove the dose’: Why courts are rejecting payouts for exposure to alleged carcinogens like talc or actual ones like asbestos
Personal injury lawyers are either revered or reviled. Sometimes purveyors of junk science, they often prey on a vulnerable and ...
Here’s why researchers believe COVID shot mandates are fueling a backlash, undermining vaccine education
Research going back many years has shown that vaccine mandates tend to backfire. Forcing people to get shots they don't ...
How germs and ancient migrations help explain our world of ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’
The Gökhem graves provide hard evidence for the ancient community's demise: genetic traces of the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis ...
Podcast: Glyphosate causes seizures? Fatigue and brain toxins; Why parents turn ‘anti-vaxx’
Does the weedkiller glyphosate cause convulsions? A study published last week seemed to support that conclusion, but there's much more ...
Can mathematical formulas identify disinformation and precisely predict elections?
Understanding the human mind and behaviour lies at the core of the discipline of psychology. But to characterise how people’s ...
Australia’s rabbit invasion: DNA analysis reveals how the European rabbit ‘colonized’ a continent
COVID and monkeypox seem to have come out of nowhere and exploded across continents. But the phenomenon of natural selection ...
South African tribes recover ancient heritage using DNA and genetic analysis
Scientists believe Africa is where modern humans first emerged. For the past decade, our team of genetic researchers from the Henn Lab have worked among the ...
