Biopolitical Times

The Center for Genetics and Society blog highlights the latest developments in the social, political, and ethical implications of human biotechnologies, with contributions from staff, fellows, consultants, and guest authors.

Question marks painted in a pattern on asphalt

7 Questionable Claims in Reporting on Gene Editing Human Embryos

By Katie Hasson | 09.06.2017

On July 26, news broke that scientists led by Shoukrat Mitalipov used CRISPR to perform gene editing on human embryos—a first in the United States. Scientists in China had previously edited human embryos, but the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) researchers edited more embryos with greater accuracy than previous attempts.

Last week, prominent researchers raised doubts about the findings of this study. But this developing scientific controversy raises additional questions about the initial reporting of this research. The...

Media Coverage

"Scattered Seeds" makes the case for disclosure of sperm donors

By Gina Maranto, Guest Contributor | 08.30.2017

Biopolitical Times

Scattered Seeds: In Search of Family and Identity in the Sperm Donor Generation, by Jacqueline Mroz, 253 pp. Seal Press, 2017. In 1681, the English poet John Dryden began his epic poem “Absalom and Achitophel,” a political satire, with an account of a monarch who...

Arts & Culture

The CSI Effect: How TV shapes DNA forensics in the courtroom

By Jonathan Chernoguz | 07.18.2017

Swab, sequence, repeat.This is how DNA forensics has been popularized on television shows like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In each episode, a skilled team of forensic investigators solves criminal cases by scouring crime scenes, collecting DNA, and matching samples they find with those available in their extensive databases...

Arts & Culture

"Woolly" is a Relentlessly Optimistic Book about De-Extinction

By Pete Shanks | 07.18.2017

Woolly: The True Story of the Quest to Revive One of History’s Most Iconic Extinct Creatures, by Ben Mezrich; 256 pp. plus Epilogue by George Church, Afterword by Stewart Brand, and endmatter. Atria Books, 2017

The style of Woolly...

Arts & Culture

The cover of Donna Dickenson's "Property in the Body" second edition featuring an image of a woman with her eyes closed superimposed on an image of a gel electrophoresis scan.

Biopolitical Times

7 Questionable Claims in Reporting on Gene Editing Human Embryos

"Scattered Seeds" makes the case for disclosure of sperm donors

The CSI Effect: How TV shapes DNA forensics in the courtroom

"Woolly" is a Relentlessly Optimistic Book about De-Extinction

“The lady vanishes”: How women become obscured in repro-genetics

How the Planet Hospital Case Offers a Nuanced Glimpse into Transnational Surrogacy

What “Friends from College” Gets Right About IVF

Researchers Condemn Fertility Doctor’s Rogue Science