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.

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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

An experimental gene therapy was little Alissa's only hope. Now, instead of certain death, she faces an uncertain future.

By Karen Weintraub, USA Today | 04.25.2021

BOSTON — Thomas Feldborg and Daria Rokina set off nearly every afternoon to explore this city. They leave from their hotel...

Animal Biotechnologies

Reversible Gene Editing Is On The Horizon

By Amanda Winkler, Freethink | 04.24.2021

The gene-editing system, CRISPR-Cas9, is truly revolutionizing medicine: in the future, it may help us eradicate ailments from sickle cell...

Human Genetic Modification

Stop talking about AI ethics. It’s time to talk about power.

By Karen Hao, MIT Technology Review | 04.23.2021

At the turn of the 20th century, a German horse took Europe by storm. Clever Hans, as he was known...

Perspectives

Oxford malaria vaccine proves highly effective in Burkina Faso trial

By Sarah Bosely, The Guardian | 04.23.2021

^{Photo by Lucio Patone on Unsplash}

A vaccine against malaria has been shown to be highly effective in trials in ...

Society

Bayer plots big cell therapy building as master plan for Berkeley site moves forward

By Ron Leuty, San Francisco Business Times [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 04.22.2021

Human Genetic Modification

Standard IVF is fine for most people. So why are so many offered an expensive sperm injection they don’t need?

By Robert Norman and Ben W. Moi, The Conversation | 04.22.2021

An expensive IVF technique, routinely offered in fertility clinics around the world, offers no extra benefits to standard IVF in...

Assisted Reproduction

The Lasting Impact of Eugenics: An Interview with Audrey Clare Farley

By Eleanor J. Bader, The Progressive | 04.20.2021

When nurse Dawn Wooten blew the whistle on medical staff at the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia last fall...

U.S. Federal

Inside the rise of police department real-time crime centers

By Rowan Moore Gerety, MIT Technology Review | 04.19.2021

At a conference in New Orleans in 2007, Jon Greiner, then the chief of police in Ogden, Utah, heard a...