News

These companies help parents try to pick their babies' traits. Experts are wary

By Rob Stein, NPR [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 05.06.2026

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...

Genetic Selection

The Measured Listener

By Daniel Shanahan, Los Angeles Review of Books | 05.31.2026

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...

U.S. States

The start-ups dreaming of creating genetically modified babies

By Alexandre Piquard, Le Monde [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 05.22.2026

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

U.S. Federal

Natural Election

By Jonathan Basile, Los Ángeles Review of Books | 04.29.2026

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

Society

The racist and classist roots of standardized testing found a home at Stanford — and they still endure today

By Georgia Rosenberg, The Stanford Daily | 09.22.2020

As wealthy parents rush to hire teachers for private instruction while those with limited financial barriers choose to take time...

Society

Stranded babies, sobbing parents: Pandemic splits surrogates from families

By Agence France-Presse, Japan Times | 09.22.2020

^{Photo by 东旭王 on Unsplash}

BEIJING – Cherry Lin wistfully strokes a one-piece baby outfit, fretting it may be too...

Assisted Reproduction

The slippery slope of the human gene editing debate

By John Evans, Oxford University Press Blog | 09.22.2020

The ethical debate about what is now called “human gene editing” (HGE) began sixty years ago. At the time, eugenicist...

Society

Trump’s eugenics obsession: He thinks he has “good German genes,” because he’s a fascist

By Heather Digby Parton, Salon | 09.21.2020

^{"Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at the Prescott Valley Event Center in Prescott Valley, Arizona" by...}

Society

The forgotten time Ruth Bader Ginsburg fought against forced sterilization

By Ria Tabacco Mar, The Washington Post | 09.19.2020

^{Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash}

My mind immediately went to Ruth Bader Ginsburg as I read the breaking news...

Society

Should California Put $5.5 Billion Into Stem Cell Research? Voters To Decide With Prop. 14.

By Sammy Caiola, CapRadio [cites Center for Genetics and Society] | 09.18.2020

A measure on the November ballot would allow California to issue $5.5 billion in bonds to fund stem cell research...

Policies

Scientists are working on vaccines that spread like a disease. What could possibly go wrong?

By Filippa Lentzos, Guy Reeves, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists | 09.18.2020

Once a COVID-19 vaccine is approved for public use, officials around the world will face the monumental challenge of vaccinating...

Synthetic Biology

Human egg with cells in the form of a question mark

Why we need a global citizens’ assembly on gene editing

By Nicole Curato and Simon Niemeyer, The Conversation | 09.17.2020

Developments in gene editing are often met with moral panic. Every new announcement raises outrage over the audacity of scientists...

Policies