News

The quest to create gene-edited babies gets a reboot

By Rob Stein, NPR [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 08.06.2025

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...

Genetic Selection

Baby Bonuses and Motherhood Medals: Why We Shouldn’t Trust the Pronatalist Movement

By Staff, National Women's Law Center | 08.13.2025

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...

Human Genetic Modification

We Don’t Know if the Babies Born From Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy Will Still Develop Mitochondrial Disease

By Katherine Drabiak, Journal of Medical Ethics Forum | 08.07.2025

Adapted from Mitochondrial DNA at
National Human Genome Research Institute

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

Assisted Reproduction

Can doctors test embryos for autism? And should they?

By Brittany Luse, Liam McBain, and Neena Pathak, NPR [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 05.28.2025

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

Genetic Selection
Black and white engraving of a neanderthal profile.

Scientists to grow 'mini-brains' using Neanderthal DNA

By Hannah Devlin, The Guardian | 05.11.2018

Scientists are preparing to create “miniature brains” that have been genetically engineered to contain Neanderthal DNA, in an unprecedented attempt...

Animal Biotechnologies
A mother and father lie down with their baby in between them. They smile and look at the baby while holding its hands. The baby looks off into the distance.

DTC: Direct to Children?

By Katie Stoll, The DNA Exchange | 05.10.2018

Last week Phil Rogers, of Chicago NBC News reported that he submitted a DNA sample from his dog, Baily, to...

Bioethics
Close up of plastic tube dropping liquid into clear plastic test tubes in a DNA lab at the University of Michigan.

Police are using DNA testing to track down a fetus’s mother

By Russell Brandom, The Verge | 05.10.2018

Monday afternoon, workers at a treatment plant in Augusta, Georgia found something unusual traveling through the city’s wastewater. A mass...

Biopolitics
A black buggy pulled by a horse on a road with green fields on either side

The Amish pool resources for their medical care. A budget-busting gene therapy puts them in a bind

By Eric Boodman, STAT | 05.08.2018

The meeting could determine whether the two young siblings would keep going blind. The doctor knew that going in, but he...

Biotech & Pharma
A hand wearing a green clinical glove holds purple test tubes containing DNA samples.

Medicine’s Wild West: 10 new genetic tests enter the market each day

By Carolyn Y. Johnson, The Washington Post | 05.07.2018

There are 75,000 genetic tests available for sale today -- a flood of information that could provide major new insights into...

Biotech & Pharma
Cartoon image of a bearded man in button down shirt with a surprised expression on his face. He is pointing over his shoulder at a colorful pie chart.

The Racial Spectacle of DNA Test Result Videos

By Amanda Hess, The New York Times | 05.06.2018

The Try Guys, a quartet of BuzzFeed personalities who film themselves undergoing often absurd and humiliating experiences on camera...

Arts & Culture
close up of a white delete key bordered by silver

How to delete your DNA data from genetics companies like 23andMe and Ancestry

By Erin Brodwin, Business Insider | 05.04.2018
Technologies
A cartoon figure holds a large magnifying glass up to a strand of DNA

You Can’t Hide Your Genes

By Natalie Ram, Slate | 05.04.2018

The arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo as the suspected Golden State Killer has both thrilled and worried watchers. Bringing the...

U.S. Federal