Will your baby like cilantro? These genetic tests say they can tell
By Megan Molteni,
Wired
| 01. 15. 2018
You have instant communication, on-demand entertainment, and dial-up transportation—why should you have to wait nine months to see what kind of baby you’re going to have? Now there’s an app for that.
In a modern-day reboot of Lindsay Bluth’s “Mommy What Will I Look Like” business venture, Denver-based startup HumanCode has introduced BabyGlimpse. It’s a $259 test that uses DNA from each member of a couple to predict how their future child might look and act—from skin, hair, and eye color to preferred kinds of snacks. (With a variant of the SLC2A2 gene your kiddo might have more glucose receptors than average, and therefore a sweet tooth, so goes the scientific reasoning.) Fun, right?
“We’ve coined it sunshine science,” HumanCode co-founder Jennifer Lescallet told the Balitmore Sun last month. “You get to look at the fun part of your potential future baby versus some of the scary stuff.” The scary stuff being more traditional carrier screen genetic tests, which tell couples if they have any disease-related genes they could potentially pass on to their offspring. These are...
Related Articles
By Ewen Callaway, Nature | 08.04.2025
For months, researchers in a laboratory in Dallas, Texas, worked in secrecy, culturing grey-wolf blood cells and altering the DNA within. The scientists then plucked nuclei from these gene-edited cells and injected them into egg cells from a domestic dog ...
By Arthur Caplan and James Tabery, Scientific American | 07.28.2025
An understandable ethics outcry greeted the June announcement of a software platform that offers aspiring parents “genetic optimization” of their embryos. Touted by Nucleus Genomics’ CEO Kian Sadeghi, the $5,999 service, dubbed “Nucleus Embryo,” promised optimization of...
By Matt Novak, Gizmodo | 07.23.2025
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, has made a big push to get agencies like the Food and Drug Administration to use generative artificial intelligence tools. In fact, Kennedy recently told Tucker Carlson that AI...
By Keith Casebonne and Jodi Beckstine [with CGS' Katie Hasson], Disability Deep Dive | 07.24.2025
In this episode of Disability Deep Dive, hosts Keith and Jodi explore the complex interplay between disability science, technology, and ethics with guest Katie Hasson, Associate Director at the Center for Genetics and Society. The conversation delves into...