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
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 ...
To the victor go the spoils: How Homo sapiens prevailed in battles for survival with Neanderthals
Around 600,000 years ago, humanity split in two. One group stayed in Africa, evolving into us. The other struck out ...
Viewpoint: Politics and science in Europe: How the development of COVID-19 vaccines highlights ideological inconsistency and hypocrisy
The announcement that Astra-Zeneca, a British-Swedish biopharmaceutical company, had developed the third coronavirus vaccine to show promise in Phase III ...
How evolution could thwart the new COVID vaccines and what we can do to prevent that
The first drug against HIV brought dying patients back from the brink. But as excited doctors raced to get the ...
How to assess the real safety risks of getting a COVID vaccine shot
It seems like we might have a vaccine on the way and some of this madness will stop. But, like everything ...
When it comes to COVID, nurture trumps nature – so far
In the early weeks of the pandemic, as patients overwhelmed New York City hospitals, the clinical characteristics of the most ...
Podcast: Beyond CRISPR and gene therapy—How ‘gene writing’ is poised to transform the treatment of even the rarest diseases
In just a few short years, gene editing has launched a biomedical revolution, yielding previously unimaginable treatments for conditions ranging ...
Debating the prickly notion of identity: It’s different depending on your ideology
In 2020, much of the public discussion of social issues revolves around notions of identity. Ideas about race, reformulations of ...
What did a teenage girl look like 9,000 years ago? Here is her face, reconstructed from bone fragments found in a cave in Greece
Swedish sculptor Oscar Nilsson reconstructed the face of an 18-year-old young woman, dubbed Avgi, whose 9,000-year-old bones were found in ...
‘Like a fire alarm and a sprinkler system all in one’: Immune proteins keep some COVID patients from getting seriously ill
Dr. Megan Ranney has learned a lot about COVID-19 since she began treating patients with the disease in the emergency ...
We needed an official scientific name for the ‘warm and fuzzies’: It’s kama muta
The phenomenon is characterized by feelings of intense love ...
Viewpoint: Social science dogma claims gender roles shape human sex differences but most theories as to why fall short
Scholarly debate over the magnitude and origin of human sex differences is seemingly interminable. As one might imagine, the arguments ...
Viewpoint: This is no time to cut corners on regulation of COVID-19 vaccines
With COVID-19 cases, the percentage of positive test results, and hospitalizations reaching record levels in much of the nation, the ...
Despite poor healthcare, Africa leads the world in controlling COVID-19. Here are some reasons why
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a huge toll on healthcare systems worldwide, but many African countries have done a commendable ...
How mental health patients suffer from the overuse of psychotropic drugs
The standard of care for the severely mentally ill in the United States has drastically changed since the 1950s, when ...
Podcast: Polymerase chain reaction—The ‘transformative’ tool that sparked a genetics revolution
In this episode we’re taking a look at the story and the characters behind one of the most transformative - ...
Evolution’s ‘great leap forward’: When did humans cross the intelligence rubicon?
When did something like us first appear on the planet? It turns out there’s remarkably little agreement on this question ...
African biotechnology advance: Vaccine breakthrough could prevent ‘catastrophic’ tick-borne diseases that cost farmers $19B annually
Livestock breeding is expected to be one of the engines of economic growth in Africa as it struggles to recover ...
The COVID conspiracy theory that won’t go away: No, the novel coronavirus was not made in a lab — it came from bats
One of the conspiracy theories that have plagued attempts to keep people informed during the pandemic is the idea that ...
Childhood trauma: The kids are not alright, and part of the explanation may be linked to epigenetics
The old adage about kids being resilient and able to bounce back from early traumas isn't necessarily borne out by ...
Podcast: Can we harness the power of germline editing without inviting disaster?
Gene editing has moved rapidly from the lab to real-world applications in medicine, yielding novel treatments for diseases like sickle ...
‘Organic electronics’ poised to create edgy new products, from bendable solar panels to transparent books to human-looking robots
Electronics made from carbon rather than silicon could lead to a new generation of medical devices, sensors and perhaps even ...
How immunotherapy is revolutionizing cancer care
More than a century ago, in 1910, President William Howard Taft made what then seemed a bold but reasonable prediction: ...
Viewpoint: The questionable science behind Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain hacking project
If thoughts, feelings and other mental activities are nothing more than electrochemical signals flowing around a vast network of brain ...
Viewpoint: The chilling impact of the virulent spread of anti-science thinking
"Anti-scientific thinking" is a bad disease of our time, and one which may affect a wide range of human beings, ...
