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...

black and white image of a human egg undergoing IVF
By Stepan Kravchenko, Bloomberg | 09.28.2019

This summer, after a Russian biochemist announced plans to follow in the footsteps of a rogue Chinese researcher and produce...

Photos of Stuart Newman and Tina Stevens and the cover of their book, Biotech Juggernaut
By Tina Stevens and Stuart Newman, CounterPunch | 09.26.2019

In September, California’s legislature passed AB 922, a bill legalizing the payment to women for their eggs for research purposes...

needle extracting a fertilized egg from a petrie dish
By Jennifer M. Gumer, The Hastings Center | 09.26.2019

Last month, an international commission convened to consider whether and how germline editing – changing the genes passed on to...

gloved hand holding a forensic DNA result
By Maura Dolan, Los Angeles Times | 09.25.2019

For decades, scientists have used ever-improving DNA forensics to help solve crimes and detect suspects in cold cases such as...

Image of He Jiankui
By Franҫoise Baylis, STAT | 09.23.2019

The hubris of some scientists knows no bounds. Less than a year after He Jiankui, a Chinese biophysicist, drew scorn...

gloved hand holding a vial of stem cells with tweezers
By Erin Allday, San Francisco Chronicle | 09.18.2019

California’s medical board on Wednesday took up an issue that scientists and consumer watchdog groups say is critical to patient...

Window poster for SNAP (supplemental nutrition assistance program)
By Audrey Farley, The Washington Post | 09.17.2019

In July, the Trump administration unveiled a plan to disqualify 3 million Americans from receiving food stamps. The proposal, which...

Human egg being penetrated by a needle
By Emily Mullin, One Zero | 09.16.2019

At least 10 babies have been born to apparently infertile women as a result of a controversial in vitro fertilization...