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 for hemophilia delayed until 2022 after FDA rejects one-time treatment, shocking doctors and scientists
U.S. regulators rejected [Biomarin’s] potentially game-changing hemophilia A gene therapy over concerns it might not really be a one-and-done lifetime ...
Viewpoint: Media focus on COVID-19 deaths ignores lasting impact of ‘calamitous pandemic’
The media regularly reports about deaths from COVID-19 as if that is the whole story. But it's not. COVID-19 doesn't ...
Viewpoint: Is there a scientific basis to ban gene drive technology that can rid us of virus-carrying rodents and mosquitoes?
Gene drives may be invaluable tools to control the spread of parasites, invasive species, and disease carriers. But the technology ...
Why SARS disappeared in 2003 while the coronavirus keeps on spreading
The unusual cases of pneumonia began to appear in midwinter, in China. The cause, researchers would later learn, was a ...
Podcast: Rebel Cell: Cancer, evolution and the science of life
Geneticist Dr Kat Arney brings you exclusive excerpts from her new book Rebel Cell, exploring where cancer came from, where ...
‘Vaccine nationalism’: Will the spoils go to the victors in the vaccine race?
Hundreds of COVID-19 vaccine candidates are currently being developed. The way emerging vaccines will be distributed to those who need them ...
Why do humans mate in private? Instinct or morality?
A debate has emerged as to why humans mate in private while every other animal – except the Arabian babbler ...
Real life Jurassic Park? Recovered prehistoric DNA raises prospect of resurrecting species
Even before Jurassic Park became a staple of pop culture in the early 1990s, geneticists have been on the hunt ...
COVID-19 conspiracy theories give people the feeling of being in control
A few weeks ago, I took an uncomfortable trip down the rabbit hole of Covid-19 conspiracy theory videos. As a newly ...
‘Immunological dark matter’: Is this why some people have a pre-existing immunity to COVID-19?
More than half a million people have died from COVID-19 globally. It is a major tragedy, but perhaps not on the ...
Video: Death by COVID: The projected grim toll in historical context
The latest statistics, as of July 10, show COVID-19-related deaths in U.S. are just under 1,000 per day nationally, which is ...
‘Tantalizing solutions’: How we are developing the next generation of cancer drugs
Cancer treatments have always been linked to a specific part of the body — these drugs for breast cancer, and ...
Podcast: Global population crash; Pesticide bans backfire; beef producing CRISPR male cows
CRISPR could enable farmers to produce more beef from fewer cattle, boosting farm sustainability. Lawsuits designed to get pesticides and ...
Vaccine ‘durability’: COVID-19 immunizations coming soon but will they last?
As the days unfold with a seeming sameness in this odd summer of the pandemic, news of vaccine clinical trials ...
Podcast: From the Black Death to COVID-19—Investigating the ancient war between genes and disease
Kat Arney looks at the ancient war between our genes and the pathogens that infect us, from the Black Death ...
Evolutionary puzzle: Why do fraternal twins exist?
The chances of having fraternal twins changes with maternal age and is heritable ...
Podcast: Europe suspends GMO rules to speed COVID vaccine; genes and coronavirus; Keto diet fights Alzheimer’s?
Europe has suspended some of its oppressive GMO regulations to speed development of a COVID-19 vaccine, drawing accusations of hypocrisy ...
Facing taboos: Conversation with GLP’s Jon Entine on sustainable agriculture, race and sports, ‘Jewish genetics’ and social investing
Jon Entine is an American science writer. He is the founder and executive director of the Genetic Literacy Project, a ...
COVID-19 is causing silent epidemics — societal and medical crises
As the nation emerges in fits and starts from the lockdowns spurred by the first wave of COVID-19 illnesses, we’re ...
Genetic puzzle: How mice can be modified to help in the race to develop coronavirus therapies
For more than three decades Michael Koob has been working out complicated puzzles using the tools of molecular biology and genetics ...
Strokes often deadly but gene therapy offers hope to rebuild critically damaged brain cells
When you think of a typical meal in the US South, you will likely recall the rich, hearty dishes that ...
In your genes? DNA holds clues about how you will fare when exposed to coronavirus
Although the spread of SARS-CoV2, the virus causing COVID-19, has slowed in many places that have successfully “flattened the curve”, ...
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Daniel Defoe’s account of London’s 1665 bubonic plague offers a shock of recognition
Pandemics have punctuated recorded history going back to ancient Greece and Egypt. However, the novel coronavirus pandemic is unfolding in ...
Re-energized anti-vaccine activism is growing on the right and winning the social media battle to discredit coming coronavirus treatments
What does an antivaxxer and a far-right activist have in common? If the thought of someone who opposes vaccines brings ...
Who is most vulnerable by age and race to die from COVID-19?
While coronavirus is obviously concerning and a very real threat to some people (namely, the elderly and immunocompromised), these data ...
Rare genetic disorder homocystinuria can cause strokes, seizures and death. A ‘genetic glitch’ in blind cavefish offers hope for a treatment
The discovery of a gene behind the absence of eyes in Mexican cavefish may suggest a new way to treat ...
Self medication: Blocked from drugs by the medical establishment, many transgender people resort to black-market hormones
For the first 10 months of Christine’s gender transition, a progressive LGBT health clinic in Boston made getting on hormones ...
