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...

Blue double strand DNA on white background
By Nathaniel Comfort, Nature | 09.25.2018

It’s never a good time for another bout of genetic determinism, but it’s hard to imagine a worse one than...

Mosquito standing on leaf/green background
By Rob Stein, National Public Radio | 09.24.2018

For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that a controversial new kind of genetic engineering can rapidly spread a self-destructive...

Half-put together puzzle depicting strands of DNA, in a spotlight
By Linda Geddes, The Guardian | 09.21.2018

Evie Walker sits on her mother’s lap, playing a game she never grows tired of: turning her mother’s hand over...

Woman in lab coat looking at test tubes
By Greg Hampikian, The New York Times | 09.21.2018

Before you give the police a DNA sample, read an alarming new study of crime laboratories published this summer, the...

Blue stained stem cells and green stained fibrin on black background
By Rob Stein, National Public Radio | 09.20.2018

Scientists say they have taken a potentially important — and possibly controversial — step toward creating human eggs in a...

Red, green, yellow and blue C, A , G and T letter descending down a wall
By Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic | 09.19.2018

In 2014, Ralph Taylor applied to have his insurance company in Washington State certified as a “disadvantaged business enterprise.” The ...

Blood pressure cuff around someone's arm and a stethoscope taking blood pressure
By Mara Gordon, National Public Radio | 09.19.2018

When patients come to Dr. Molly Quinn for infertility treatments, they usually aren't too interested in hearing about the possible...

Gloved hand holding pipette and test tube
By Matthew Weaver, The Guardian | 09.18.2018

The fertility regulator has called for DNA testing websites to warn customers about the risks of uncovering traumatic family secrets...