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
baby feet

An I.V.F. Mix-Up, a Shocking Discovery and an Unbearable Choice

By Susan Dominus, The New York Times | 11.30.2024

In the days after Daphna Cardinale delivered her second child, she experienced a rare sense of calm and wonder. The...

Assisted Reproduction

FDA probes blood cancer risk from Bluebird’s gene therapy, weighs regulatory action

By Christy Santhosh, Reuters | 11.27.2024

Nov 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is weighing the need for regulatory action on bluebird bio's ...

Genomics
graphic depicting genetic selection

Silicon Valley’s tech elite want to make superbabies. They shouldn’t

By Julia Brown and Daphne Martschenko, The San Francisco Standard | 11.23.2024

“Pronatalist” parents like Simone and Malcolm Collins want it all: optimized babies – lots of them. 

To achieve this goal...

Genetic Selection
uterus

Who should get a uterus transplant? Experts aren’t sure.

By Jessica Hamzelou, MIT Technology Review | 11.22.2024

Earlier this year, a boy in Sweden celebrated his 10th birthday. Reproductive scientists and doctors marked the occasion too. This...

Assisted Reproduction
willow brook

The Horrors of Hepatitis Research

By Carl Elliott, The New York Review of Books | 11.21.2024

Photo "Traces of Willowbrook" by Matt Green on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

In academic medicine, as with Confederate statuary...

Society
dna graphic

WHO releases new principles for ethical human genomic data collection and sharing

By World Health Organization, World Health Organization | 11.20.2024

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a set of principles for the ethical collection, access, use and sharing of...

Policies
Elon Musk

He has already fathered many children. Now Musk wants all of the US to embrace extreme breeding

By Arwa Mahdawi, The Guardian | 11.19.2024

Photo "Elon Musk Presenting Tesla's Fully Autonomous Future" by  on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Is Elon Musk...

Genetic Selection
AI graphic

UN puts AI Titans on the hook for billions of dollars of biopiracy payments

By Jim Thomas, Scan the Horizon | 11.19.2024

It’s the wee hours of 2nd November 2024 in Cali, Colombia. In a large UN negotiating hall   Colombian Environment Minister...

Genomics