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

CRISPR’s Adaptation to Genome Editing Earns Chemistry Nobel

By Amanda Heidt, The Scientist | 10.07.2020

^{Illustration © Niklas Elmehed for Nobel Media}

This year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded jointly to Emmanuelle Charpentier...

Human Genetic Modification

Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded to two women who developed CRISPR, a revolutionary gene-editing tool

By Ben Guarino, Washington Post | 10.07.2020

A pair of scientists — Jennifer A. Doudna, a biochemist at the University of California at Berkeley, and Emmanuelle Charpentier...

Human Genetic Modification

Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded to 2 Scientists for Work on Genome Editing

By Katherine J. Wu, Carl Zimmer and Elian Peltier, New York Times | 10.07.2020

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was jointly awarded on Wednesday to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for their 2012...

Human Genetic Modification

Stanford will rename campus spaces named for David Starr Jordan and relocate statue depicting Louis Agassiz

By Chris Peacock, Stanford News | 10.07.2020

Stanford will rename campus features named after David Starr Jordan and take actions to provide the public with a more...

Civil Society

Is it "fraud" when you sell bad sperm as good?

By Alison Motluk, HeyReprotech Newsletter | 10.06.2020

A lot happened last week in the department of problem sperm.

For one thing, the Supreme Court of Georgia decided...

Assisted Reproduction

Gene-Silencing Pesticides Pose New Risks to Health, Environment and Farmers

By Eva Sirinathsinghji, Kendra Klein and Dana Perls, Friends of the Earth | 10.06.2020

WASHINGTON — “Gene-silencing pesticides” now under development pose unique risks to surrounding ecosystems and beneficial insects, including bees, according to...

Synthetic Biology

Election Guide: Here's What You Need to Know About Proposition 14

By Terry McSweeney, NBC Bay Area [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 10.04.2020

Proposition 14 on the November ballot asks voters to approve $5.5 billion to continue funding stem cell research in California...

Policies

A Brief History of Sterilization Abuse in the U.S. and its Connection to ICE Mass Hysterectomies in Georgia

By Gabriela Salas, National Women's Health Network | 10.02.2020

On September 15, 2020, a whistle-blower complaint alleged that immigrant women in a privately-run Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention...

U.S. States