Carl Zimmer
Articles written for the GLP list the source as Genetic Literacy Project. All other articles were written for the sources noted with excerpts provided by the GLP.
‘Editing Humanity’: Kevin Davies’ new book on CRISPR, the ‘miracle of our age’
“The Crispr story has arrived for the grand telling as a miracle of our age,” the [MIT Technology Review announced ...
COVID vaccines for children need to be vetted more carefully and may not be ready for a full year
Thanks to the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed and other programs, a number of Covid-19 vaccines for adults are already in advanced ...
What if the first COVID vaccines are rushed, not guaranteed to be safe, and limited in effectiveness?
[A] surprising number of research groups are placing bets on some [COVID-19 vaccines] that have not yet been given to ...
Who are COVID-19 ‘super spreaders’ and how do they transmit the virus so widely
Growing evidence shows most infected people aren’t spreading the virus. But whether you become a superspreader probably depends more on ...
Intriguing links between blood types and COVID-19 outcomes
Why do some people infected with the coronavirus suffer only mild symptoms, while others become deathly ill? Geneticists have been ...
New York’s coronavirus outbreak traced to travelers who arrived from Europe in February before travel ban was imposed
New research indicates that the coronavirus began to circulate in the New York area by mid-February, weeks before the first ...
What is it about the coronavirus genome that makes it so dangerous?
In January, scientists deciphered a piece of very bad news: the genome of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. The ...
Bizarre deep sea microbe could help explain origins of ‘animals, plants, fungi and humans’
Two billion years ago, simple cells gave rise to far more complex cells. Biologists have struggled for decades to learn ...
Scientists reconstruct yet-to-be-found skull of humans’ last common ancestor entirely through computer imaging
[R]esearchers like Dr. [Aurélien] Mounier are using computers and mathematical techniques to reconstruct the appearance of fossils they have yet ...
Podcast: Why did we survive, when the Denisovans and Neanderthals did not?
The Denisovans have long been one of the most elusive ancient human cousins, until now. In May 2019, scientists revealed ...
7 things we get wrong about heredity
Many people have misconceptions about heredity—how we are connected to our ancestors and how our inheritance from them shapes us ...
Crime scene investigators couldn’t tell identical twins’ DNA apart. Until now
One night in November 1999, a 26-year-old woman was raped in a parking lot in Grand Rapids, Mich. Police officers ...
Genetically modified humans? Here’s why they already exist
It felt as if humanity had crossed an important line: In China, a scientist named He Jiankui announced on Monday ...
‘Living medicine’: Reengineering bacteria to tackle genetic diseases
In a study carried out over the summer, a group of volunteers drank a white, peppermint-ish concoction laced with billions ...
Can you inherit a laugh? Book explores this and other genetics questions
Why are people today often taller than their ancestors? If you have blue eyes or red hair, does that mean your children will ...
Viewpoint: Genetic intelligence tests are ‘worse than just wrong’
On a recent visit to [genetic data website] DNA.Land, I scanned down the list of traits they offered to tell ...
Why can your DNA vary from cell to cell? Mosaicism is a ‘hidden mix of mutations’
James Priest couldn’t make sense of it. He was examining the DNA of a desperately ill baby, searching for a ...
‘Natural traveler’? Humans may not be responsible for sweet potato’s migration from South America to Pacific
Of all the plants that humanity has turned into crops, none is more puzzling than the sweet potato. Indigenous people ...
Unexplained ailments? Genetic mutations may be responsible
Gregor Mendel discovered fundamental rules of genetics by raising pea plants. He realized that hidden factors — we now know ...
