News

These companies help parents try to pick their babies' traits. Experts are wary

By Rob Stein, NPR [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 05.06.2026

Justin Schleede reaches onto a black lab bench to pick up a tray of small plastic tubes.

"These are saliva samples as well as blood," says Schleede, a geneticist who runs Herasight Inc.'s lab in Morrisville, N.C. "We also...

Genetic Selection

The Measured Listener

By Daniel Shanahan, Los Angeles Review of Books | 05.31.2026

This is the 15th installment in the Legacies of Eugenics series, which features essays by leading thinkers devoted to exploring the history of eugenics and the ways it shapes our present. You can read the first part here. The series...

U.S. States

The start-ups dreaming of creating genetically modified babies

By Alexandre Piquard, Le Monde [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 05.22.2026

"If proven to be safe, we believe preventive gene editing could be one of the most important health technologies of...

U.S. Federal

Natural Election

By Jonathan Basile, Los Ángeles Review of Books | 04.29.2026

WILLIAM BATESON, a foundational figure in the science of genetics at the turn of the last century, once recounted the...

Society

Amid the Turmoil of Covid, Biosafety Legislation Gets Political

By Michael Schulson, Undark Magazine | 06.27.2022

_{Photo by Trnava University on Unsplash}

IN MARCH 2021, three members of Congress sent a long letter to the director of...

U.S. Federal

Genetic Screening Results Just Got Harder to Handle Under New Abortion Rules

By Sara Reardon, Kaiser Health News | 06.27.2022

_{Photo by Testalize.me on Unsplash}

Ann was 15 weeks pregnant with her fourth child when the results of her prenatal...

Genetic Selection

Image of a protest sign with the words "my body my choice"

With Roe v. Wade overturned, disabled people reflect on how it will impact them

By Shruti Rajkumar , NPR | 06.25.2022

_{Photo by Reed Naliboff on Unsplash}

In 2008, around eight weeks into her second pregnancy, Robin Wilson-Beattie began experiencing hyperemesis...

Policies

Image of a sign reading "keep abortion safe and legal"

A Preview of the Dangerous Future of Abortion Bans — Texas Senate Bill 8

By Whitney Arey, Ph.D et al.,, The New England Journal of Medicine | 06.22.2022

_{Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash}

When the U.S. Supreme Court issues its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health...

U.S. States

Side Effects May Include … A Completely New Hair Color?

By Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic | 06.22.2022

^{Photo by ANIRUDH on Unsplash}

In October 2019, Jordan Janz became the first person in the world to receive an...

Human Genetic Modification

Half in UK back genome editing to prevent severe diseases

By Ian Sample , The Guardian | 06.22.2022

More than half the UK backs the idea of rewriting the DNA of human embryos to prevent severe or life-threatening...

Assisted Reproduction

Image of a black and white hospital hallway

Where science meets fiction: the dark history of eugenics

By Adam Rutherford, The Guardian | 06.19.2022

^{Photo by Ante Samarzija on Unsplash}

It’s a quirk of history that the foundations of modern biology – and as...

Other Countries

This Father’s Day, spare a thought for the people touched by anonymous sperm donation

By Alison Motluk , The Globe and Mail | 06.18.2022

As you drop your dad’s card into the mailbox, or dial him for a quick chat, or arrange a little...

Assisted Reproduction