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: UN sub-agency IARC bungled cancer designation of glyphosate and undermined science of assessing carcinogens
Testing for chemical carcinogenicity using animals is timely, costly, and for some, morally wrong. Non-traditional data consists primarily of quick, ...
The humans we haven’t met yet
Everything that’s been called Homo sapiens, isn’t. In my opinion, far too many species have been lumped together into this one ...
GLP Podcast: Illegal GMOs in India; Anti-aging myths; Can social media ‘brainwash’ us?
Farmers in India are growing illegal GE eggplant in hopes of overturning the country's ban on the insect-resistant crop. Anti-aging ...
What’s the best way to reduce the risk of preventable cancers of the stomach, kidneys, colon, breast and urinary tract? 5 hours of exercise a week
A new report finds more than 46,000 cancer cases annually in the United States could be prevented if Americans met ...
Part I: Viewpoint—Many people believe ‘human biodiversity’ is alt-right code for embracing racism. Here’s why they are dangerously wrong
Why do some people equate the phrase “human biodiversity” with racism? And what does it really mean? HBD, as its ...
Next generation flu shots could be mRNA technology-based
The rapid development of mRNA-based COVID vaccines has sparked fresh interest in earlier efforts to produce new and hopefully more ...
GLP Podcast: Biotech fish ‘invade’ Brazil; TikTok GMO-sterility myth debunked; Bad diet and dementia
A genetically engineered "GloFish" is swimming freely in Brazil's streams. Should we be worried? Despite a popular conspiracy circulating on ...
Viewpoint: Eugenics has become unacceptable in modern society — except when it’s used to support termination of genetically abnormal fetuses
American partisan politics has just been inflamed by implementation of a Texas ban on abortions once an embryo’s heartbeat is ...
Will Homo longi elbow aside Neanderthals as our closest relative?
In 1933 a mysterious fossil skull was discovered near Harbin City in the Heilongjiang province of north-eastern China. Despite being ...
Lefty or righty? Is handedness genes or chance?
Many geniuses, from Einstein to Bill Gates were lefties. But left-handedness remains a rarity--only 1 in 10 of us are ...
GLP Podcast: Loneliness causes dementia? Parkinson’s-fighting GM tomatoes; ‘Sovietizing’ science
Loneliness could drastically boost your risk of developing dementia. Genetically engineered tomatoes may be our first line of defense against ...
For the first time, CRISPR gene editing tools were injected into the human body — and cured a patient’s blindness. What’s next?
More evidence for the efficacy of a groundbreaking new gene-editing medical procedure has emerged, deepening hope it will provide one-shot treatments or ...
Viewpoint: From forced confessions to believing that vaccines cause autism, brainwashing has a harsh history
In 1937, the longtime Bolshevik leader Georgy Pyatakov was tried in Moscow for treason, sabotage and other alleged crimes against ...
Pet love: Humans nurture their animals as they parent their children. Here’s the evolutionary reason why
Have you noticed more cats riding in strollers lately? Or bumper stickers that read, “I love my granddogs”? You’re not ...
GLP Podcast: Trauma changes your DNA? Lifelike sex robots; Have we cured leukemia?
Can traumatic life experiences leave an imprint on our DNA that we pass down to our children? Get ready, because ...
Some endangered species can no longer survive in the wild. So should we alter their genes to protect them?
Around the world, populations of many beloved species are declining at increasing rates. According to one grim projection, as many as ...
What science says about the future of COVID-19
With pandemic fatigue becoming more intense, there is increasing speculation about when the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, might become ...
Understanding the ‘runner’s high’: How exercising creates a natural marijuana-like euphoria
Many people have experienced reductions in stress, pain and anxiety and sometimes even euphoria after exercise. What’s behind this so-called ...
Question the ‘lab leak’ theory but don’t call it a conspiracy
A warning: This article will not tell you whether SARS-CoV-2 escaped from a lab and set off the Covid-19 pandemic, ...
GLP Podcast: Don’t ‘cancel’ Joe Rogan?; Psychopaths among us; Green Revolution saved $83 trillion
The recent campaign to "cancel" comedian Joe Rogan for promoting COVID misinformation highlights a troubling trend in science communication. High-functioning ...
Viewpoint: Anti-GMO groups ‘using the COVID lab-leak theory to spur opposition to a wide swath of important, even life-saving, biotechnologies’
Hoping to keep their cause alive in the wake of the pandemic, the anti-GMO movement has glommed on to a ...
Sandy From the Mountains dies from COVID-19, leaving a message to the unvaxxed
Sandy and her husband lived in a cabin nestled into a mountainside in a small town in the Rockies, next ...
Viewpoint: ‘Sovietizing’ Western science? Conflating STEM research with fashionable ideologies raises Orwellian concerns
Earlier this year, I (Anna) did something that my friends feared I would come to regret: I publicly spoke out ...
COVID immunity: Is it stronger from infection or vaccination?
Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, a University of California-Irvine psychiatry professor, felt he didn’t need to be vaccinated against covid because he’d ...
GLP Podcast: Genetics of sugar cravings; Male birth control; CRISPR-edited apples coming soon?
We all crave sugar on occasion, and geneticists say they've found some of the genes that may have driven this ...
‘Byzantine regulations’: Here are the human health and environmental reasons why we need to aggressively embrace GMOs and gene editing
Organisms developed with so-called new breeding techniques (NBTs) like CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing have earned widespread support from farmers and scientists ...
Let food be thy medicine: How GMO tomatoes could help Parkinson’s patients
An apple a day might keep the doctor away, but soon the garden’s preventative prescription for 60 thousand Americans might ...
