Good Eggs, Bad Sperm and Terrible Journalism
By Kirsty Oswald,
BioNews
| 03. 02. 2015
Untitled Document
You may have come across the story. 'Teenagers more likely to pass on genetic mutations to children,' reported The Independent. 'Teenage boys more likely to father child with birth defect due to mutating sperm,' declared The Metro. The Mail on Sunday was even prepared to put a figure on it: 'Teenage boys’ babies are 30 percent more likely to develop autism, schizophrenia and spina bifida.'
But was there research showing anything of the sort? The simple answer is no.
Read more...
Related Articles
By Nicholas Wade, The New York Times | 04.30.2026
“J. Craig Venter” via Wikimedia Commons licensed under CC by 2.5
J. Craig Venter, a scientist and entrepreneur who raced to decode the human genome, died on Wednesday in San Diego. He was 79.
His death was announced by...
By Susan Dominus, The New York Times Magazine | 04.27.2026
Why are babies born young? The most natural phenomenon on earth is actually hard to explain — at least on a cellular level. Consider this problem: The components of conception are old. When a woman gets pregnant, she has...
By Jonathan Basile, Los Ángeles Review of Books | 04.29.2026
WILLIAM BATESON, a foundational figure in the science of genetics at the turn of the last century, once recounted the response of a Scottish soldier to one of his public lectures: “Sir, what ye’re telling us is nothing but Scientific...
By Rob Stein, NPR | 04.23.2026
The Food and Drug Administration approved the first gene therapy to restore hearing for people who were born deaf.
The decision, while only immediately affecting people born with a very rare form of genetic deafness, is being hailed as...