News

A Chinese scientist horrified the world in 2018 when he revealed he had secretly engineered the birth of the world's first gene-edited babies.

His work was reviled as reckless and unethical because, among other reasons, gene-editing was so new...

INTRODUCTION

Baby bonuses. Motherhood medals. Fertility tracking. You may have heard of these policy proposals as solutions from the Trump administration to help encourage women to have more children.

Besides falling short of ensuring that people have what they need...

Adapted from Mitochondrial DNA at
National Human Genome Research Institute

Recently, media outlets around the world have been reporting on...

A newly available kind of genetic testing, called polygenic embryo screening, promises to screen for conditions that can include cancer...

Different colored DNA letters descending down a wall
By The Editorial Board, The New York Times | 02.01.2019

Last month, the DNA-testing company 23andMe secured Food and Drug Administration approval for a new screening for gene-based health risks...

Pipet in a test tube
By Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review | 02.01.2019

At his keyboard in Austin, Texas, Bryan Bishop was writing quickly. A nationally ranked speed typist, he had drafted a...

Microscopic picture of egg cells and embryos
By Rob Stein, National Public Radio [cites Marcy Darnovsky] | 02.01.2019

A scientist in New York is conducting experiments designed to modify DNA in human embryos as a step toward someday...

A building on the Rice University campus
By Jane Qiu, STAT News | 01.31.2019

BEIJING — An American scientist at Rice University was far more involved in the widely condemned “CRISPR babies” experiment than...

Man holding up clear plate with DNA
By Salvador Hernandez, BuzzFeed News | 01.31.2019

Family Tree DNA, one of the largest private genetic testing companies whose home-testing kits enable people to trace their ancestry...

A small child with curly hair holds a finger on an adult's hand
By Pilar Álvarez, El País | 01.30.2019

In a little over a decade, the number of foreign children adopted by Spanish parents has plunged from 5,541 to...

Two pairs of scissors cutting a strand of DNA
By The Editorial Board, The New York Times | 01.28.2019

Scientists quickly condemned the Chinese researcher who altered the DNA of at least two embryos to create the world’s first genetically edited...

Photo of Craig Mello smiling
By Candice Choi and Marilynn Marchione, Time | 01.28.2019

Long before the claim of the world’s first gene-edited babies became public, Chinese researcher He Jiankui shared the news with...