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.

Silicon Valley’s race to produce genetically engineered humans

By Katie Hasson | 11.21.2025

Several recent Biopolitical Times posts (1, 2, 3, 4) have called attention to the alarmingly rapid commercialization of “designer baby” technologies: polygenic embryo screening (especially its use to purportedly screen for traits like intelligence), in vitro gametogenesis (lab-made eggs and sperm), and heritable genome editing (also termed embryo editing or reproductive gene editing). Those three, together with artificial wombs, have been dubbed the “Gattaca stack” by Brian Armstrong, CEO of the cryptocurrency company...

Genetic Selection

Remembering Disability Justice Warrior Alice Wong

By Emily Galpern | 11.20.2025

Biopolitical Times

Alice Wong, founder of the Disability Visibility Project, MacArthur Genius, liberationist, storyteller, writer, and friend of CGS, died on November 14. Alice shone a bright light on pervasive ableism in our society. She articulated how people with disabilities are limited not by an inability to do things but by systemic segregation and discrimination, the de-prioritization of accessibility, and the devaluation of their lives.

We at CGS learned so much from Alice about disability justice, which goes beyond rights...

Arts & Culture

Experimental Human Cell Division Does Not a Baby Make

By Pete Shanks | 10.22.2025

^{Paula Amato & Shoukhrat Mitalipov

[OHSU News/Christine Torres Hicks]}

On September 30th, a team of 21 scientists from Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) published a significant paper in Nature Communications, with a scientifically accurate but, to many, somewhat abstruse headline...

Assisted Reproduction

Eugenics, from Victorian to Postmodern

By Pete Shanks | 09.24.2025

^{Sir Francis Galton, 1890s, by Eveleen Myers (née Tennant)

npg.org

Public Domain via Wikipedia}

As has been discussed in recent issues of Biopolitical Times (1, 2), there are, increasingly, companies that claim to be selling parents better...

Policies

Biopolitical Times

Silicon Valley’s race to produce genetically engineered humans

Remembering Disability Justice Warrior Alice Wong

Experimental Human Cell Division Does Not a Baby Make

Eugenics, from Victorian to Postmodern

In Memoriam: James Watson, 1928–2025

Can Trump’s IVF Policies Please His Pronatalist Base?

Chimeras: The Genetic Modification of Nature

GMWatch on De-Extinction, Designer Babies, Gene Drives and More

A New Eugenics Gold Rush? From designer babies to not-quite-designer jeans

New Guidelines on Trisomy 13 and 18 Promote Nuanced Care Decisions

UK Researchers Announce Eight Babies Born Through Three-Person IVF, but Questions Remain

How to Make Cloning Pay