News

The Mysterious Eugenics of Aesthetic Taste

By Michael Rossi, The Los Angeles Review of Books | 01.11.2026

This is the 10th 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. The series is organized by Osagie K. Obasogie in...

Arts & Culture

The mirage of AI deregulation

By Alondra Nelson, Science | 01.15.2026

One of the most interventionist approaches to technology governance in the United States in a generation has cloaked itself in the language of deregulation. In early December 2025, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to announce a forthcoming “One...

Global Governance

More and “Better” Babies: The Dark Side of the Pronatalist Movement

By Daphne O. Martschenko and Julia E. H. Brown, Hastings Bioethics Forum | 01.14.2026

There is growing concern that falling fertility rates will lead to economic and demographic catastrophe. The social and political movement...

Genetic Selection

Bay Area Startups Want to Make Genetically Engineered Babies. What Could Go Wrong?

By Grace Won, KQED Forum [with CGS' Katie Hasson] | 12.02.2025

In the U.S., it’s illegal to edit genes in human embryos with the intention of creating a genetically engineered baby...

Genetic Selection

How Egg Freezing & IVF Clinics Are Putting Women At Risk

By Vicky Spratt, Refinery29 | 11.22.2021

There is increasing concern among the medical community that the high doses of hormones involved in fertility treatments – whether...

Public Opinion

As gene-editing moves mainstream, a pioneer in the field is testing whether it could prevent Alzheimer's

By Allison DeAngelis, Insider | 11.22.2021

^{Photo from Beam Therapeutics}

David Liu is best known as one of the pioneers of the experimental science of editing...

Human Genetic Modification

FDA approves first drug for genetic cause of dwarfism

By Damian Garde, STAT | 11.19.2021

The Food and Drug Administration approved the first treatment for the most common cause of dwarfism Friday, a drug that...

Society

CRISPR gene editing causes whole chromosome loss

By Claire Robinson, GMWatch | 11.19.2021

In another of a long line of studies showing unintended effects of gene editing, the CRISPR-Cas gene editing tool has...

Animal Biotechnologies

For me, IVF and other fertility programs can have a darker and less happy side

By Blake Turck, The Washington Post | 11.13.2021

As a little girl, I never dreamed of motherhood. When I got married at 36, I assumed pregnancy would come...

Bioethics

CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing May Select for Cells With Cancer-Related Mutations

By Sophia Ktori, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | 11.12.2021

A comprehensive study headed by researchers at Sanford Burnham Prebys has shown that gene editing—specifically gene knockout (KO)—using CRISPR-Cas9 technology...

Genetic Selection

Biden Chooses Robert Califf to Lead F.D.A., Despite Drug Industry Ties

By Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Sheila Kaplan, The New York Times | 11.12.2021

WASHINGTON — President Biden announced on Friday that he would nominate Dr. Robert M. Califf, a former commissioner of the...

U.S. Federal

A Vision for the Future of Science Philanthropy

By Evan S. Michelson and Adam F. Falk, Issues in Science and Technology | 11.09.2021

Although we can envision many ways that the scientific enterprise might evolve in the future, an often-overlooked component will surely...

Society