News

The World's First Gattaca Baby Tests Are Finally Here

By Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review | 11.08.2019

A new DNA test claims to let prospective parents weed out IVF embryos with a high risk of disease or low intelligence. It will also warn clients about any embryo predicted to become a person who is among the shortest...

Assisted Reproduction

Your DNA Profile is Private? A Florida Judge Just Said Otherwise

By Kashmir Hill and Heather Murphy, The New York Times | 11.05.2019

Privacy experts say a warrant granted in Florida could set a precedent, opening up all consumer DNA sites to law enforcement agencies across the country.

Genomics

Controversial ‘Gay Gene’ App Provokes Fears of a Genetic Wild West

By Emily Maxmen, Nature | 10.29.2019

Scientists and genetic counselors say that unregulated tools like the "How Gay Are You?" app can cause anxiety, unnecessary medical expenses, stigmatization and worse.

Genomics

From Assisted Hatching to Embryo Glue, Most IVF ‘Add-ons’ Rest on Shaky Science, Studies Find

By Sharon Begley, STAT | 11.05.2019

Four new studies offer the most comprehensive look at current practices in a little-regulated industry.

Assisted Reproduction

A row of babies in hospital cots swaddled in pink and blue blankets

Sequencing the Genome of Every UK Baby Would Be an Ethical Minefield

By Clare Wilson, New Scientist | 11.07.2019

Plans for the National Health Service to sequence the DNA of every baby born in the UK, starting with a...

Genomics

a doctor with white hair explains a medical procedure to a young white couple with brown hair

IVF "Add-On" Procedures Offer False Hope

By Kelly Glass, Medium Elemental [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 11.06.2019

When Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos and her husband were trying to conceive with in vitro fertilization (IVF), they were presented with...

Assisted Reproduction

Human egg being penetrated by a needle for IVF

From Assisted Hatching to Embryo Glue, Most IVF ‘Add-ons’ Rest on Shaky Science, Studies Find

By Sharon Begley, STAT | 11.05.2019

By the time Sarah Chamberlin’s fertility doctor declared her genes “incompatible” with her husband’s and said the clash might be...

Assisted Reproduction

Your DNA Profile is Private? A Florida Judge Just Said Otherwise

By Kashmir Hill and Heather Murphy, The New York Times | 11.05.2019

For police officers around the country, the genetic profiles that 20 million people have uploaded to consumer DNA sites represent...

Genomics

Fingerprints and data code on a blue background

The DNA Database Used to Find the Golden State Killer is a National Security Leak Waiting to Happen

By Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review | 10.30.2019

A private DNA ancestry database that’s been used by police to catch criminals is a security risk from which a...

Genomics

Ethical Research — The Long and Bumpy Road from Shirked to Shared

By Sarah Franklin, Nature | 10.29.2019

In the autumn of 1869, Charles Darwin was hard at work revising the fifth edition of On The Origin of...

Bioethics

Controversial ‘Gay Gene’ App Provokes Fears of a Genetic Wild West

By Emily Maxmen, Nature | 10.29.2019

Joseph Vitti’s stomach turned when he opened a link an acquaintance had sent him. It took him to an app...

Genomics

masked researcher handles genetic material in a pipette

Ethical Red Flags Fly As Russian Biologist Pushes Boundaries Of Gene Editing

By Andy Heil, Radio Free Europe | 10.26.2019

Moscow biologist and DNA specialist Denis Rebrikov has spent much of the past year kicking a scientific and ethical hornet's...

Human Genetic Modification