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
The COVID pandemic has changed the future of CRISPR and synthetic biology, says Rahul Dhanda, Sherlock Biosciences CEO
It’s been a transformative year for synthetic biology and for the world. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses in our global ...
Science Facts and Fallacies Podcast: COVID’s mysterious origins; Why some anti-vaxxers got their shots; Unwise J&J ‘pause’?
Where did SARS-COV-2 come from? For most of the last year a natural origin story was the predominant view among ...
COVID and immunity: How long will it last if you get a vaccine or were infected?
The COVID vaccines are working. Data from Israel and Scotland shows that they are protecting people and may also be decreasing ...
Why do some animals live extraordinarily long lives — and can humans benefit from studying them?
Life, for most of us, ends far too soon — hence the effort by biomedical researchers to find ways to ...
‘In nature, everything is connected’: Can synthetic biology reverse the decline in our depleted marine ecosystem?
Our blue planet runs on ocean ecosystems that are currently in steep decline. In the last 50 years, the amount ...
Science Facts and Fallacies Podcast: Is coffee healthy or not? Public health officials encourage vaccine skepticism? Why childbirth is so hard
Coffee is nutritious, according to the latest study. Also, coffee is linked to cancer, new research finds. How do we ...
Vaccine equity: This is what the US is doing to ensure widespread global access to COVID-19 vaccines
The U.S. is expected to soon have enough COVID-19 vaccine doses on hand to fully vaccinate just about everyone in ...
Impact of false negative COVID tests: Some patients have Long Covid symptoms but have been denied medical coverage
Kristin Novotny once led an active life, with regular CrossFit workouts and football in the front yard with her children ...
Viewpoint: ‘Dump Dimorphism’ — Challenging orthodoxy, neuroscientists claim 30 years of studies show ‘no meaningful male-female brain differences’
Everyone knows the difference between male and female brains. One is chatty and a little nervous, but never forgets and takes ...
Science Facts and Fallacies podcast: Dr. Paul Offit takes on anti-vaccine activism as COVID shots stem new infections
Early in the pandemic, Children's Health Defense—the anti-vaccine group headed by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.—alleged that SARS-COV-2 was being used ...
Viewpoint: Vaccine resistance is a growing concern. So far, the US is bungling its response
Research shows that vaccine skepticism appeals to people who already distrust authority. Solutions proposed during the COVID-19 pandemic may be ...
Good and bad news: What we know about vaccines and containing COVID variants
Glimmers of hope are beginning to shine through the gloom of the past year. That was evident in a recent ...
‘Super smellers’: 4 ways some people are hard-wired to sniff out even the subtlest aromas
Do certain smells make you feel uncomfortable, even nauseous? Or is your nose so good that you can detect even ...
Podcast: ‘GMOs’ are more natural than you think; CRISPR mosquitoes fight malaria; Dating apps and syphilis
A growing body of research shows that dozens of naturally transgenic plants have existed for millions of years, undermining a ...
Viewpoint: COVID lockdown denialists are immune to the hard realities of a relentless virus
I am no lockdown junkie. I’d like to get that straight before I explain why the most extreme variant of ...
The age of genetically-enhanced children is approaching. Novelist Kazuo Ishiguro imagines a have-and-have not future, and it’s not pleasant
Biotech interventions to help sick children—like gene therapy—are approached with supreme caution. If a treatment has a reasonable chance of ...
‘The One’ on Netflix claims to find your soulmate based on your DNA. What’s the reality?
The Netflix drama The One centres around a geneticist who invents a new matchmaking service. It uses DNA to help people ...
Sharon Peacock: COVID-19 Variant Hunter
The UK is a world leader in sequencing SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Of all the coronavirus genomes that ...
Debating the possible origins of COVID-19: A lab-escaped bioweapon? Animal poop? Random mutations of an existing virus?
“Virus outbreak: research says COVID-19 likely synthetic,” shouted the headline in the Taipei Times on February 23, 2020. The idea ...
Podcast: NatGeo promotes pesticide fears; How weed affects your brain; Real-life Jurassic Park?
Despite its long history as a reputable science magazine, National Geographic has recently embraced simplistic narratives about the environmental impact ...
The evolutionary history of human tolerance
Environmental pressures may have led humans to become more tolerant and friendly towards each other as the need to share ...
Artificial intelligence is teaching robots to evolve autonomously so they can pioneer exploration on distant planets
It’s been suggested that an advance party of robots will be needed if humans are ever to settle on other ...
Rural, Republican America deeply skeptical about the reality of COVID and the importance of vaccines. Here’s why
At 70, Linda Findley has long been active in her small town of Fort Scott, Kansas, which sits more than ...
Would you agree to be infected with COVID for science? Intentional ‘challenge’ studies underway as researchers explore new vaccines and treatments
Lauren Thomas, who just turned 26, is trying to get into a clinical trial at the University of Oxford, where ...
Viewpoint: FDA’s ‘pause’ on distribution of the J&J vaccine was overly risk-averse
Citing “an abundance of caution,” the FDA on [April 13] recommended a “pause” in the administration of Johnson & Johnson’s ...
Battling AIDS has provided valuable lessons for managing the pandemic
World AIDS Day this year finds us still deep amid another pandemic – COVID-19. The highly infectious novel coronavirus has ...
How do you spot a liar? (Hint: Non-verbal cues don’t matter much)
Police thought that 17-year-old Marty Tankleff seemed too calm after finding his mother stabbed to death and his father mortally bludgeoned ...
