News

A Chinese scientist horrified the world in 2018 when he revealed he had secretly engineered the birth of the world's first gene-edited babies.

His work was reviled as reckless and unethical because, among other reasons, gene-editing was so new...

INTRODUCTION

Baby bonuses. Motherhood medals. Fertility tracking. You may have heard of these policy proposals as solutions from the Trump administration to help encourage women to have more children.

Besides falling short of ensuring that people have what they need...

Adapted from Mitochondrial DNA at
National Human Genome Research Institute

Recently, media outlets around the world have been reporting on...

A newly available kind of genetic testing, called polygenic embryo screening, promises to screen for conditions that can include cancer...

ivf fertility clinic
By Ellen Trachman, Above The Law | 08.24.2022

Earlier this month, California Representatives Adam Schiff and Judy Chu introduced the Equal Access to Reproductive Care Act, a...

an anti abortion ban protest
By David Dodge, The New York Times | 08.23.2022

During her 20-week pregnancy ultrasound last month, a woman living near the Utah-Idaho border learned she had a major rupture...

sperm surrounding an egg
By Jessica Hamzelou, MIT Technology Review | 08.23.2022

The way we make babies could be about to change. Maybe. 

An embryo forms when sperm meets egg. But what...

tree logo of The Hastings Center
By Inmaculada De Melo-Martín, The Hastings Center Report | 08.22.2022

Advances in genome editing technologies allow scientists to add, remove, or alter genetic material at particular locations in the human genome...

a dna helix with some tweezers
By Corinne Othenin-Girard, Philosophical Investigations | 08.22.2022

Imagine a world in which parents have the option to go to a geneticist to discuss the ‘genetic fix’ choices...

man with bionic arm
By Britt H. Young, IEEE Spectrum | 08.21.2022

Photo by Henk Mul on Unsplash

In Jules Verne’s 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon, members...

A Tasmanian tiger
By Editorial, The Guardian | 08.19.2022

"tasmanian tiger" by nicolas.boullosa is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

The last official sighting of a Tasmanian...

a gavel next to a gold plaque that says "patent law"
By Joe Mullin, Electronic Frontier Foundation | 08.18.2022

recently introduced patent bill would authorize patents on abstract ideas just for including computer jargon, and would even legalize...