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: No, your water bottle does not pose a danger to your health — Here’s how HuffPost misrepresents the science on safe plasticizers
We’ve often heard that economics is the “dismal science.” That phrase also seems like an apt description of claims used ...
Humans are ill equipped to handle freezing cold — so why do so many of us live in chilly climates?
Humans are a tropical species. We have lived in warm climates for most of our evolutionary history, which might explain ...
Genomic scars: How centuries of surviving antisemitism has shaped Jewish genetics
Between election news and the ever-earlier encroachment of Christmas, an important November anniversary of a horrific event goes mostly unnoticed: ...
Rethinking humanity’s origin story: Did all modern humans evolve from East Africa?
New evidence is prompting researchers to rethink Homo sapiens’ origin story—and what it means to be human ...
De-extinction: The Second Coming
Ten years ago it burst into mainstream popular life: the possibility of resurrecting extinct species ...
GLP podcast and video: Low-carb diets cause heart disease? Economic de-growth or ‘green’ growth?
Many people have turned to low-carb diets as a way to shed unwanted body fat, but a new study suggests ...
Three years after WHO declared COVID a global emergency, Americans remain sharply divided over pandemic truths and myths
Trust in public health officials declined over the course of the pandemic, particularly among Republicans. Over the course of the ...
5 traits in modern humans that trace back to our distant ancestry
Many of us are returning to work or school after spending time with relatives over the summer period. Sometimes we ...
GLP podcast and video: Eating bugs safe? Pesticide use exploding? COVID and trust in science
The European Union is all too happy to allow consumers to eat potentially dangerous bug-based food, yet it remains hostile ...
How might we adapt to fast-changing global temperatures? 2-million year old ‘environmental DNA’ offers clues
The reconstruction of a once-living landscape in northern Greenland from 2 million years ago, deduced from bits of DNA bound ...
Viewpoint: ChatGPT gets a lot wrong or garbled. That doesn’t mean it’s not useful.
It doesn’t take much to get ChatGPT to make a factual mistake ...
Viewpoint: ‘Health impact of chemicals doubled in last 5 years’? Media misreporting flawed studies misleads the public
“Plastics and pesticides: Health impacts of synthetic chemicals in US products doubled in last 5 years, study finds," a July ...
Reassessing the East Palestine chemical scare: How dangerous is vinyl chloride?
News coverage of the East Palestine train derailment has ranged from hysteria to hysteria. One would think that one of ...
GLP Podcast & Video: FDA checks chocolate-heart health claims; Cure for binge drinking? Gene-edited wheat may cut cancer risk
Does dark chocolate reduce your heart disease risk? The FDA says candy companies need to tread lightly when it comes ...
Best way for obese people to lose weight? Lifestyle change advocates debate gloomy prognosis linked to the role of genes
It's been a challenging few months for people with severe overweight issues mulling how best to shed what could be ...
Analysis: US public health officials scramble to restore trust in science and vaccines after two years of COVID controversies
By the summer of 2021, Phil Maytubby, deputy CEO of the health department here, was concerned to see the numbers ...
Sudan connection: Are Ethiopian Jews descendants of the ancient Israelites?
A broad suite of genetic and historical evidence points to an ancient Jewish heritage for Ethiopian Jews, contradicting established theory ...
Genomic surveillance: How studying malaria parasite genes helps develop more effective treatments
In a classic evolutionary ‘arms race’ between pathogens and their human hosts, both sides develop arsenals of weapons. Our immune ...
GLP Podcast & Video: Synthetic biology makes $10,000 perfume way cheaper; ‘Fashionable organic fantasies’ at the WEF; Sleeping pills cause dementia?
A bottle of perfume used to cost more than $10,000. The price has dropped precipitously thanks to advancements in synthetic ...
Can we know for sure COVID’s origins? Why is Omicron so persistent? Knowing how evolution works provides guidance
The latest phrase borrowed from biology in COVID conversations is convergent evolution. It refers to pairs of unrelated species that ...
How cats got their stripes: The mystery of color patterns in mammals
In 1902’s Just So Stories, Rudyard Kipling famously explained how the leopard got his spots in what would today be deemed an ...
Podcast and video: Fighting cystic fibrosis with viruses; Soaring seed prices; Europe’s byzantine plant-breeding rules persist
Cystic fibrosis is a fatal condition that claims patients at an early age, so why does it persist? Soaring seed ...
How humans adapt: Research on 1,000 ancient genomes reveals how genetic variants swept through populations
Humans may be just as vulnerable to environmental change as other animals, according to our new research analysing genetic data ...
Evoking Jeff Goldblum’s ‘The Fly’: Does growing human ‘brains-in-a-dish’ and creating chimeras cross a bioethical line?
Bits of human brain growing in a lab dish can reveal a great deal about how a disease begins and ...
GLP podcast and video: Universities host anti-science quack Vandana Shiva (again); Communist Cuba is pro-GMO; 1 year of ‘bioengineered’ food labels
Dozens of researchers recently blasted two universities for inviting anti-vaccine, anti-GMO activist Vandana Shiva to speak. Why do America's academic ...
Mysterious kidney disease epidemic flares up in Central America with climate change and chemicals suspected as drivers
José Lopez didn't want to die, but the alternative — having a scalpel plunged through his abdominal wall to install ...
8 billion milestone: Here’s the story of how Homo sapiens came to rule the earth
November 15 2022 marks a milestone for our species, as the global population hits 8 billion. Just 70 years ago, ...
