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
Part 1: Defying all predictions, Africa is the global COVID-19 ‘cold spot’. How come health officials and the media are not honestly exploring why?
The first confirmed COVID-19 case in Africa was on February 14, 2020 in Egypt. The first in sub-Saharan Africa appeared ...
Viewpoint: New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof echoes scientifically dubious fears about falling sperm counts and ‘endocrine disrupting’ chemicals
The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof has shown an admirable commitment over the years towards highlighting under-reported stories. He fights ...
Human evolutionary timeline: Key moments in the emergence of our species
The long evolutionary journey that created modern humans began with a single step—or more accurately—with the ability to walk on ...
Coffee reduces risk of heart failure? What are we to make of a new study based on artificial intelligence (AI)
When I was starting out in epidemiology in the early 1980’s I attended a lecture by Thomas Pearson, a cardiologist, ...
Can anything be done to counter anti-vaccination activists?
Recently, anti-vaxxers protests shut down the mass vaccination program underway at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. In Israel, the global poster child ...
Podcast: When science and politics collide: How JBS Haldane’s radical views clouded his scientific mind
Dr Kat Arney explores the life and complex legacy of JBS Haldane, whose work, writing and dominant personality made him ...
Reversing aging: We can turn back cognitive decline in mice. Will the same techniques work on humans?
The ageing global population is the greatest challenge faced by 21st-century healthcare systems. Even COVID-19 is, in a sense, a ...
Viewpoint: Female, younger, better-educated and affluent – How ‘alternative medicine’ has taken America by storm and endangered lives
I am a skeptic and a curmudgeon, so I was surprised when a friend of 30 years asked if she ...
We might be able to protect ourselves against future pandemics by gene editing embryos
Hollywood blockbusters such as X-men, Gattaca and Jurassic World have explored the intriguing concept of “germline genome editing” – a biomolecular technique that can ...
‘New story unfolding’: Ancient finger bones found in Asia force a rethinking of human migration
Politics, geography, and tradition have long focused archaeological attention on the evolution of Homo sapiens in Europe and Africa. Now, ...
Can we have an open debate about IQ, genes, and group differences? Reassessing the legacy of James Flynn
I once spoke to a human geneticist who declared that the notion of intelligence was quite meaningless, so I tried ...
Dawn beckons as COVID vaccines roll out, but the next few months promise to be the darkest yet, and echoes of the AIDS era
One strange aspect of plagues is that they often finish strong. I learned this the hard way last time around ...
Viewpoint on sex and gender: Has the New England Journal abandoned science for woke political correctness?
Two years ago, “Titania McGrath,” whose satirical Twitter account regularly skewers the ideological excesses of social-justice culture, suggested that “we should remove biological ...
Podcast: Brushing your teeth keeps you young? Ageing research uncovers new clues in the quest to live a longer, healthier life
Dr Kat Arney takes a look at the biological changes that underpin ageing, and how we can use this knowledge ...
The faux argument of natural vs synthetic
There are many confrontations on the battlefield of cyberspace. Vaccine proponents versus anti-vaxxers. Creationists versus evolutionary biologists. Anti-fluoride activists versus ...
Are Trump and Biden showing early signs of dementia? It’s time to look beyond arm-chair psychiatry and politics to science
In 2020, while the United States was locked in one of the most polarizing presidential elections and post-election period in ...
When the faster-spreading and more virulent COVID-19 mutant came to my home town, it shook up everyone. Here’s an explainer of what it foreshadows
When a new variant of the COVID-19 virus appeared in the UK as 2020 drew to a close, I didn’t ...
The truth about the COVID vaccines: Everything you need to know about the fastest vaccines ever developed
The COVID-19 vaccine was developed faster than any other vaccine in history, which has caused some concern to those that ...
Viewpoint: The unreported dark side of James Watson’s DNA structure discovery
For the past several years, I have taught a seminar called The Literature of Science to a dozen or so honors ...
Inherited blindness has a new cure, thanks to CRISPR
In recent months, even as our attention has been focused on the coronavirus outbreak, there have been a slew of ...
A dangerous stage in the evolution of the novel coronavirus is upon us with the discovery of “escape mutations”. Artificial intelligence may be our best response
Real life with COVID-19 is now scarier than anything a sci-fi writer could envision. So-called “escape mutations” that can turn ...
Gattaca or life-saving? Can we—should we—use CRISPR to edit human embryos, sperm or eggs to cure diseases?
The startling announcement by He Jiankui [two years] ago that he had created the first genetically modified human beings unleashed a ...
Podcast: How do mRNA vaccines work and why were they developed so fast?
Geneticist Dr Kat Arney takes a look at the discovery of messenger RNA (mRNA) and finds out how mRNA vaccines ...
There is a lot of misinformation about COVID, the available vaccines and their effectiveness. These 7 insights will help clear that up.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, there have been many thousands of articles and commentaries published on almost every ...
Viewpoint: COVID vaccine successes have made headway in rebutting facile arguments about the dangers of biotechnology
It turns out that, despite the destruction and heartbreak caused by the COVID pandemic, there is a silver lining: Scientists ...
Sketchy vegan-promoting physicians group produces study attacking ‘blood type’ diet – and it’s surprisingly rigorous and convincing
Nearly every sort of diet has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list by now, all claiming to have ...
We are inching towards direct brain control of computers. Here’s when they’ll be ready
Imagine controlling your computer just by thinking. It sounds far-out, but real advances are happening on these so-called brain-computer interfaces ...
