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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...

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...

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

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

two hands meeting
By Sigal Samuel, Vox | 05.17.2026

A lot of humans are feeling very down on humanity these days. Maybe you’ve met them. Or maybe you’re one...

puzzle pieces making up a representation of the human brain
By Calder McHugh, Politico | 05.15.2026

There will come a time, in the not-so-distant future, when you decide to stick a computer chip in your brain...

Ukrainian colors on a decorative wall
By Sofia Bettiza, BBC News | 05.07.2026

Karina is six months pregnant, but the foetus inside her womb is not her own.

The 22-year-old from eastern Ukraine...

IVF graphic
By Jessica Hamzelou, MIT Technology Review | 05.07.2026

Forty-eight years ago this July, Louise Joy Brown became the world’s first person born with the help of in vitro...

sperm
By Meghan Davidson Ladly, New Lines Magazine | 05.07.2026

On Dec. 7, 2023, the first night of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, 51-year-old Sharon Eisenkot heard the knock on...

a graphic showing a physician selecting on gene over another as "better"
By Nanette Elster, Kayhan Parsi, and Art Caplan, The American Journal of Bioethics | 05.06.2026

“Better babies.” “Fitter families.” “Survival of the fittest.” “Three generations of imbeciles are enough.” These phrases are not merely historical...

Image of IVF
By Julianne McShane, MS Now | 05.05.2026

More than a dozen Democratic senators are demanding that the chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission abandon plans to...

australian money
By Evie Kendal, The Conversation | 05.03.2026

The Australian Law Reform Commission is currently reviewing Australia’s surrogacy laws to ensure they’re fit for purpose and reflect the...