News

Surrogacy goes more mainstream

By Carly Mallenbaum, Axios [cites Emily Galpern] | 03.29.2026

More Americans are turning to surrogacy to build their families, as the practice becomes more common and more publicly discussed.

Why it matters: As surrogacy becomes more visible and accessible, ethical, legal and cultural tensions become harder to ignore...

U.S. Federal

Eugenics and the Modern Synthesis, Part I

By Jessica Riskin, Los Ángeles Review of Books | 03.23.2026

This is the first part of the 14th 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. The series is organized by...

Civil Society

Surrogacy laws are all over the map

By Carly Mallenbaum, Axios [cites Surrogacy360] | 03.29.2026

Without a federal law, surrogacy in the U.S. is governed by a patchwork of state regulations/

Why it matters: Confusing...

Policies

Project Eugenics: The Rollback of Disability Rights

By Kiana Jackson and Shannon Stubblefield, New Disabled South | 02.09.2026

^{"MC0_8230" via Wikimedia Commons licensed under CC by 2.0}

This report documents a deliberate assault on disabled people in...

U.S. States

Inside America’s Horrifying Modern-Day Eugenics Movement

By Cassie Da Costa, The Daily Beast | 05.18.2020

Director Erika Cohn’s new film, Belly of the Beast, part of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival which goes...

U.S. Federal

United States relaxes rules for biotech crops

By Erik Stokstad, Science | 05.18.2020

^{Photo by Erwan Hesry via Unsplash.com}

A major change to U.S. regulation of biotech will exempt some gene-edited plants from...

Animal Biotechnologies

100 Babies Stranded in Ukraine After Surrogate Births

By Andrew E. Kramer, The New York Times | 05.16.2020

The babies lie in cribs, sleeping, crying or smiling at nurses, swaddled in clean linens and apparently well cared for...

Assisted Reproduction

A smartphone with Stay Home instructions

Apple and Google are building a virus-tracking system. Health officials say it will be practically useless.

By Reed Albergotti and Drew Harwell, Washington Post | 05.15.2020

_{Photo by Adrien Delforge on Unsplash}

Apple and Google’s announcement last month of a joint effort to track the coronavirus...

A painting of burying victims of the Black Death

From Black Death to fatal flu, past pandemics show why people on the margins suffer most

By Lizzie Wade, Science | 05.14.2020

_{Wikimedia Commons: Miniature by Pierart dou Tielt: The people of Tournai bury victims of the Black Death.}

When the Black...

Mouse embryos that are 4 per cent human are step towards spare organs

By Michael Le Page, New Scientist | 05.13.2020

Biologists have created mouse-human chimeras whose bodies were composed of up to 4 per cent human cells when the early...

Animal Biotechnologies

23andMe study to recruit sickest Covid-19 patients in bid to unravel role of genetics in disease

By Rebecca Robbins, STAT | 05.13.2020

As researchers probe DNA in search of clues about why some Covid-19 patients get so much sicker than others, they’re...

Judith Butler on the Violence of Neglect Amid a Health Crisis

By Francis Wade, The Nation | 05.13.2020

_{Image via Wikimedia Commons}

Judith Butler has achieved a status that few other living academics have acquired: For each published...

U.S. Federal