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
mosquito on skin

Paradise altered: EPA approves first release of genetically modified mosquitoes in Florida Keys

By Taylor White, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists | 04.19.2021

This spring, the biotechnology company Oxitec plans to release genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes in the Florida Keys. Oxitec says its technology...

Animal Biotechnologies

I’m the Head of Planned Parenthood. We’re Done Making Excuses for Our Founder.

By Alexis McGill Johnson, New York Times | 04.17.2021

We need to talk about Margaret Sanger.

For the 11 years that I’ve been involved with Planned Parenthood, founded by...

Perspectives

The Lost Embryos

By Katherine Rosman, The New York Times | 04.16.2021

When the first letter from Women & Infants Hospital arrived in the mail in July 2017, Elaine Meyer thought perhaps...

Assisted Reproduction
monkey mother and child

Scientists Create Early Embryos That Are Part Human, Part Monkey

By Rob Stein, NPR | 04.15.2021

Photo by Darrell Fraser on Unsplash

For the first time, scientists have created embryos that are a mix of human...

Human Genetic Modification
courtroom

Conservative Judges Are Manipulating the History of Eugenics to Overturn Roe v. Wade

By Mark Joseph Stern, Slate | 04.15.2021

On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upheld an Ohio law that prohibits doctors from...

U.S. States
lab work

From gene bombs to classroom curriculum

By Svetlana Reiter, Alexander Ershov, and Farida Rustamova, Meduza | 04.14.2021

Until recently, the Russian authorities showed little interest in genetics. The breakthrough came in 2019, when the government allocated 127...

Human Genetic Modification

Big Tech’s guide to talking about AI ethics

By Karen Hao, MIT Technology Review | 04.13.2021

AI researchers often say good machine learning is really more art than science. The same could be said for effective...

Biotech & Pharma
Stained-glass window

Ronald Fisher Is Not Being ‘Cancelled’, But His Eugenic Advocacy Should Have Consequences

By Eric Michael Johnson, This View of Life | 04.12.2021

Photo by Schutz, stained glass designed by Maria McClafferty,
CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

While Black Lives Matter protests...

Genomics