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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.

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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...

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this piece are solely my own and do not represent those of my...

"Donald Trump Signs The Pledge" by Michael Vadon 
is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

This is...

two identical black and white cats
By Sui-Lee Wee, The New York Times | 09.04.2019

China’s first duplicate cat marks the country’s emergence in gene research and its entry in a potentially lucrative and unregulated...

close-up image of a hand on a wheelchair wheel
By Andrew Solomon, The New York Times | 09.02.2019

The eugenic movement spearheaded by Francis Galton in England in the late Victorian period reached a culmination in the view...

an illustration of scientists doing construction on a double helix
By Alex Pearlman, MIT Technology Review | 08.30.2019

Citing the tremendous cost of new drugs, an international group of biohackers say they are creating a knockoff of a...

Donald Trump speaking into a microphone
By Hamed Aleaziz, BuzzFeed News | 08.29.2019

The Trump administration wants to enable Customs and Border Protection officials to collect DNA samples from undocumented immigrants in its...

human eggs under a microscope
By Alison Motluk, HeyReprotech! | 08.27.2019

Ten years ago, if you were a woman who had donated eggs, there was a good chance you'd never met...

black and white cow with yellow tags in its ears
By Megan Molteni, WIRED | 08.26.2019

Up until a few months ago, Brazil was all set to create the country’s first herd of genetically dehorned dairy...

track star Usain Bolt holds up a flag after winning a race
By Catherine Taylor, ABC News Australia | 08.24.2019

It's a scene straight out of Gattaca — the 1997 futuristic film in which eugenics is used to breed and...

gloved hand adding pipetting material into a vial labeled CRISPR
By Laura Hercher, The Nation | 08.23.2019

Call it the “ick” factor.

Stories like the 2018 bombshell out of China, of a scientist manipulating embryonic DNA...