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...

DNA dissolving graphic
By Ben Fidler and Ned Pagliarulo, Biopharma Dive | 07.21.2025

One month ago, a 51-year-old man treated in a clinical trial with an experimental gene therapy became dangerously sick. The...

Graphic of egg cells in a tube
By Jessica Hamzelou, MIT Technology Review | 07.18.2025

This week we heard that eight babies have been born in the UK following an experimental form of IVF that...

DNA graphic in black and grey
By Geoffrey A. Fowler, The Washington Post | 07.17.2025

Nearly 2 million people protected their privacy by deleting their DNA from 23andMe after it declared bankruptcy in March. Now...

Image of person typing on a laptop
By Noah Lanard, Mother Jones | 07.17.2025

Jordan Lasker, an X user who goes by the username Crémieux, recently made news by providing the New York Times with...

Perennial Monocot Stem: Amphivasal Vascular Bundle in Acorus Rhizome cross section
By Rob Stein, NPR | 07.16.2025

Scientists can protect children from being born with certain devastating genetic disorders by creating "three-parent" babies, according to the results...

An IVF graphic
By Jessica Hamzelou, MIT Technology Review | 07.16.2025

Eight babies have been born in the UK thanks to a technology that uses DNA from three people: the two...

superbaby graphic
By Elizabeth Dwoskin and Yeganeh Torbati, The Washington Post | 07.16.2025

A group of well-heeled, 30-something women sat down to dinner last spring at a table set with pregnancy-friendly mocktails and...

Image of a chess board
By Frank Landymore, Futurism | 07.15.2025

We are referring, of course, to the inimitable Atari 2600. Last month, the iconic system embarrassed the AI industry after...