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
Podcast: From Philadelphia to Baltimore—Tales of Chromosomes, Cancer Cells and Henrietta Lacks
In this episode we’re taking a road trip from Philadelphia to Baltimore, exploring stories of chromosomal cut-and-paste, cancer cures and ...
Viewpoint: The choosiness myth — Why are there fewer women in science?
In 1879, French polymath Gustave Le Bon wrote that even in “the most intelligent races” there “are a large number of ...
Infographic: 5 different ways COVID vaccines work
COVID vaccine hesitancy is on the rise, perhaps in the wake of pressure to speed approval beyond scientific reason. But I think ...
Video: Vaccine expert Paul Offit talks with Medscape’s Eric Topol on the pitfalls and promise of COVID ‘Operation Warp Speed’
[Editor's note: This interview can be watched in full at Medscape. Watch it here. Read a transcript of the interview ...
How COVID-19 resembles a sexually transmitted disease
Viruses walk a fine line between severity and transmissibility. If they are too virulent, they kill or incapacitate their hosts; ...
The Goldilocks phenomenon: Why as many as 45% of patients get COVID and show no symptoms
One of the reasons Covid-19 has spread so swiftly around the globe is that for the first days after infection, ...
Regenerative medicine and war: The next breakthrough in treating injured veterans?
Many Americans, and indeed people all over the world, were outraged when reports surfaced this past summer that President Trump ...
Artificial Intelligence’s Orwellian dangers – and what we should do about it
Individualistic western societies are built on the idea that no one knows our thoughts, desires or joys better than we ...
Podcast: The future of cancer care—How genomics is transforming research and treatment for all
In this episode, sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific, we’re taking a look at how genomic technologies are transforming cancer care ...
COVID has amped up our cortisol stress response. Here’s how you can manage your diet to control anxiety
Stress seems to be a common state of mind these days. With COVID-19 still very much present, and with solutions ...
Revisiting the Kon-Tiki hypothesis: Did ancient Americans really settle the Pacific?
An eccentric theory of human seagoing migration—made famous by one of the most insanely suicidal ‘scientific’ experiments ever undertaken—has recently ...
‘It’s all in the brain’: The science behind stuttering
Gerald Maguire has stuttered since childhood, but you might not guess it from talking to him. For the past 25 ...
‘Detecting consciousness’: Living with a missing cerebellum and other mysteries of the brain
Can electrical impulses in the brain explain the stuff that dreams are made of? ...
Why a coronavirus vaccine ‘October Surprise’ could be an October disaster
There is widespread anticipation of the availability of vaccines to prevent COVID-19 infections so that Americans can get their lives ...
Skeletons provide tell-tale glimpses into past mass infections and pandemics
Dead men do tell tales through their physical remains ...
‘Challenge studies’: Should we be testing COVID vaccines by intentionally infecting volunteers?
To those who’ve never thought about volunteering to be intentionally infected to test a vaccine, the idea may at first ...
Viewpoint: Rethinking ‘critical race theory’ — What happens when broad racialist viewpoints ‘invade’ science?
“Schœlcher n’est pas notre sauveur,” declared protestors who toppled statues on the French territory of Martinique earlier this year—“Schœlcher is not our savior.” The reference ...
Podcast: Where do babies come from? How developmental genetics revealed the secrets of life’s earliest stages
In this episode we’re going back to the very beginning, telling the stories of the midwives of the field of ...
Why COVID-19 hits men harder than women
When it comes to surviving critical cases of COVID-19, it appears that men draw the short straw. Initial reports from ...
Resurrection of phrenology? AI’s quest to link facial features and criminality has a shady Victorian legacy
'Phrenology’ has an old-fashioned ring to it. It sounds like it belongs in a history book, filed somewhere between bloodletting ...
The ‘Church of Nature’ and the sudden collapse of the cult of Extinction Rebellion
When a cult loses its grip on a person, a form of reawakening takes place. It involves having to return ...
Struggle to decide when kids should go back to school mirrors 1918 pandemic debate
During the influenza pandemic in 1918, even though the world was a very different place, the discussion [about whether to ...
Podcast: Rare genetic disorders and pregnancy—Navigating an ’emotionally challenging’ journey
We look at the progress that’s been made in tackling rare genetic disorders (and the challenges that remain) and we ...
Dissecting male-female brain and behavior differences
People have searched for sex differences in human brains since at least the 19th century, when scientist Samuel George Morton ...
Stigmatization faced by people who underwent intersex surgeries to correct ambiguous genitalia
Eugene Robinson recovered from his double mastectomy on a hospital porch in Durham, North Carolina. It was August 1956, and ...
COVID pandemic exposes Africa’s need for long-term solutions to Lassa fever and other neglected tropical diseases
Spread by food contaminated by the feces or urine of disease-carrying rodents and endemic to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and ...
5 things you should know if you have COVID and are asymptomatic
Blood tests that check for exposure to the coronavirus are starting to come online, and preliminary findings suggest that many ...
