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
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 ...
Podcast: Unreliable COVID tests; Amazon’s creepy Halo health band; Celebrate pesticides?
How do COVID-19 tests work, and are their results reliable? Recent media reports have raised some concerning questions. Amazon's Halo ...
Marketers are beginning to use data mined from consumer DNA tests. Should we be worried?
A woman lingers at a display of coffeemakers. Soon after, images of the very same contraptions festoon her Facebook feed, ...
Reflecting on ‘The Queen’s Gambit’: Are women genetically hardwired to underperform men in chess?
Unlike the wildly popular Netflix chess-themed series The Queen’s Gambit, female players have struggled to climb to the top of ...
How COVID deniers are taking pages out of the anti-vaccine movement’s playbook
One of the most notable things about the COVID-19 pandemic has been how fast two science denialist movements made common cause ...
More or less deadly? Which way is SARS-CoV-2 evolving?
No lethal pandemic lasts forever. The 1918 flu, for example, crisscrossed the globe and claimed tens of millions of lives, ...
Your personal genetic makeup can determine whether you respond to a treatment, get worse, or even die
Henk-Jan Guchelaar knows all too well the serious problems that the side-effects of medication can cause. As a professor of clinical pharmacy at the ...
‘Auto-activation deficit’: The curious cases of people hard wired to react but not act
One day, a lively and successful businessman was bitten by a wasp, triggering an unexpected encephalopathy of the brain. Afterwards, he ...
PEW global survey: Caution about research on gene editing, but wide support for treating diseases in human embryos
Global publics take a cautious stance toward scientific research on gene editing, according to an international survey from Pew Research ...
Why humanity will likely be around for a long time
Will our species go extinct? The short answer is yes. The fossil record shows everything goes extinct, eventually. Almost all ...
Podcast: How do COVID vaccines work? CRISPR kills cancer; Danish study debunks mask mandates?
The leading COVID-19 vaccines are RNA-based immunizations and the first of their kind. How do they work, and are they ...
Viewpoint: COVID won’t subside in the US until 70% of us are immune. That means: ‘Get a vaccine’
The United States is one of the most seriously COVID-19-impacted countries, faring the worst among the ten most-affected countries worldwide, as ...
Halal effect: Global Muslim communities face unique COVID challenges, including a religion-grounded hesitation to vaccines
COVID-19 has spared no ethnic, racial or religious group. It treats everyone with equal disdain. But that doesn’t mean that ...
Sordid ledger: Humans’ destructive history of wiping out other species
Sometime in the late 1600s, in the lush forests of Mauritius, the very last dodo took its last breath. After ...
Free will vs genetics: How much do our genes shape our actions?
Many of us believe we are masters of own destiny, but new research is revealing the extent to which our ...
Level the playing field: Genetics makes us not only different but unequal. CRISPR could change that. Should we do it?
Over the past decade, economists, sociologists and psychologists have begun collaborating with geneticists to investigate how genomic differences among human ...
High-tech medical and dental innovation garner the headlines but the most impactful practices are mostly lower tech and prevention-focused
Much of the progress in medicine during the past half-century has involved expensive, high-tech diagnostic tests and therapies. The trend in ...
Are Sudanese Arabs?
Sudan, once the largest and one of the most geographically diverse states in Africa, split into two countries in July ...
When humans evolved selfishness
There has long been a general assumption that human beings are essentially selfish. We’re apparently ruthless, with strong impulses to ...
‘Reverse dieting’ fad reality check: Is it possible to maintain a lower body weight while consuming more calories?
We all know that when it comes to weight loss, dropping the pounds is the easy part. It’s keeping weight ...
