News

During his 2015 State of the Union address, then-President Barack Obama announced what he promised would be an ambitious public health project. “Tonight, I’m launching a new Precision Medicine Initiative to bring us closer to curing diseases like cancer and diabetes...

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...

Justin Schleede reaches onto a black lab bench to pick up a tray of small plastic tubes.

"These are saliva...

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

Men in kilts holding flags marching in the New York City St. Patrick's Day parade
By Honor Sachs , The Washington Post | 12.13.2019

This holiday season, millions of Americans will receive gifts allowing them to explore their genealogy and ancestry. People will give...

illustration of a group of people from above arranged in a double helix
By Peter Aldhous, Buzzfeed News | 12.11.2019

“Genetics just got personal.” So boasted the website of 23andMe in 2008, just after launching its DNA testing service.

As...

He Jiankui wearing blue shirt
By Françoise Baylis, The Conversation | 12.10.2019

It’s been just over a year since the dramatic announcement of the world’s first genome-edited babies using CRISPR technology. Since...

a scientist handles genetic material with a pipette
By Megan Molteni, Wired | 12.09.2019

Just two years ago, GEDmatch was still an obscure genealogy website, known only to a million or so hobbyist DNA...

By Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times | 12.08.2019

California’s stem cell program, created by voters in 2004, has made great strides in advancing what’s known as regenerative medicine...

biology classroom with a microscope and synthetic human brain and heart
By Amy Harmon, The New York Times | 12.07.2019

Biology textbooks used in American high schools do not go near the sensitive question of whether genetics can explain why...

By Michael Le Page, New Scientist | 12.06.2019

Pig-primate chimeras have been born live for the first time but died within a week. The two piglets, created by...

clasped hands of an elderly white woman
By Emily Mullin, Medium One Zero | 12.05.2019

Would you pay $1 million and fly to South America for a chance to live longer?

Libella Gene Therapeutics, a...