News

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...

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...

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

Why it matters: Confusing...

"MC0_8230" via Wikimedia Commons licensed under CC by 2.0 

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

Bill McKibben
By Bill Lueders, The Progressive | 06.18.2019

I hope it’s not too late to review Bill McKibben’s important new book Falter, just as I join him...

Filmmaker behind a movie camera
By Erin Allday, San Francisco Chronicle | 06.15.2019

A new documentary about stem cell therapy is being questioned by some of those who appear in it — prominent...

Oocyte with zona pellucida
By Jon Cohen, Science | 06.13.2019

In a bold rejection of the widespread sentiment—and regulations in many countries—that no one should alter the genome of a...

Gloria Steinem speaking in front of an American flag
By Vivian Wang, The New York Times | 06.12.2019

The proposal to legalize surrogacy in New York was presented as an unequivocal progressive ideal, a remedy to a ban...

illustration of many faces having mugshots taken
By Elizabeth Joh, The New York Times | 06.11.2019

Someone broke into a church in Centerville, Utah, last November and attacked the organist who was practicing there. In March...

Egg surrounded by sperm
By Editors, Nature | 06.11.2019

A worldwide debate is under way on how to regulate gene editing in human sperm, eggs or embryos.

A researcher...

logo for the journal nature
By David Cyranoski, Nature | 06.10.2019

A Russian scientist says he is planning to produce gene-edited babies, an act that would make him only the second...

An embryo being fertilized
By Katie Hasson, The Hill | 06.10.2019

Late last year, scientist He Jiankui announced the birth of the world’s first genetically modified babies. He deployed a...