News

'Superbabies' Startup Seeks Funds for Controversial Gene Editing Push

By Sophie Alexander and Ike Swetlitz, Bloomberg | 06.25.2025

A California-startup focused on genetically editing human embryos — a step toward creating so-called designer babies — is raising money as many of Silicon Valley’s ultra-rich turn their attention to one of the most controversial technologies in medicine.

Bootstrap Bio...

Patents & Other IP

Can doctors test embryos for autism? And should they?

By Brittany Luse, Liam McBain, and Neena Pathak, NPR [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 05.28.2025

A newly available kind of genetic testing, called polygenic embryo screening, promises to screen for conditions that can include cancer, obesity, autism, bipolar disorder, even celiac disease. These conditions are informed by many genetic variants and environmental factors - so...

Genetic Selection

Why Deleting Your 23andMe Data Is a Political Imperative

By Katie Sagaser, The DNA Exchange | 05.27.2025

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this piece are solely my own and do not represent those of my...

U.S. Federal

Trumpian “Common Sense” and the History of IQ Tests

By Pepper Stetler, Los Angeles Review of Books | 05.08.2025

^{"Donald Trump Signs The Pledge" by Michael Vadon

is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.}

This is...

Society

The legacy of eugenics at U.Va.

By Jack Morgan, The Cavalier Daily | 01.17.2022

In a majority opinion written in 1927 for the Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell...

U.S. States

Opinion: Here are some questions about the pig heart transplant that people actually should be asking

By Arthur Caplan, Laura Kimberly, Brendan Parent, and Tamar Schiff, The Washington Post | 01.14.2022

Arthur Caplan, Laura Kimberly, Brendan Parent and Tamar Schiff are members of the transplant ethics and policy working group in...

Animal Biotechnologies

New infographic highlights ethical issues ‘on the horizon’ in biology and medicine

By The Nuffield Council on Bioethics, The Nuffield Council on Bioethics News | 01.13.2022

Would the use of artificial wombs during pregnancy change the nature of parenthood? Can genomic analysis be used to accurately...

Genetic Selection

Whose baby is this? IVF mix-ups & other reasons to change the law

By Ellen Trachman, TEDxMileHigh | 01.08.2022

What happens when a couple freezes embryos to conceive a baby later, but they get divorced? What if egg and...

Policies

The Questions We Should Really Be Asking After Reading the NY Times Article About Prenatal cfDNA Screening For Microdeletions

By Robert Resta, The DNA Exchange | 01.08.2022

As the genetic counseling world knows all too well, the New York Times recently published a story about prenatal cfDNA...

Society

How Widespread Prenatal Testing for Microdeletions Can Hurt Patients and Why the Genetic Testing Industry Needs More Accountability

By Katie Stoll, Gene Cuisine | 01.04.2022

^{_{image "Blood Samples" by Daniel Sone from the website of the National Cancer Institute}}

The New York Times published an important...

Biopolitics

California Will Compensate Survivors of Eugenics’ Forced Sterilizations

By S.E. Williams, Black Voices News | 01.03.2022

On New Year’s Eve California Governor Gavin Newsom announced another important action in the state’s ongoing effort to redress historical...

Society

Cover of "The Genetic Lottery" by Kathryn Page Harden

Does it really matter if you win or lose the genetic lottery?

By Joseph L Graves Jr, The Lancet | 01.01.2022

Kathryn Paige Harden, Professor of Psychology who leads the Developmental Behavior Genetics lab at the University of Texas at Austin...

Genetic Selection