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...

Two twin girls with brown hair standing next to each other
By Charlsie Agro and Luke Denne, CBC | 01.18.2019

One set of identical twins, two different ancestry profiles.

At least that's the suggestion from one of the world's largest...

DNA inside a syringe on a blue background.
By Françoise Baylis and Marcy Darnovsky, The Hastings Center | 01.17.2019

Despite the appearance of agreement, scientists are not of the same mind about the ethics and governance of human germline...

Old black and white photograph of young James Watson
By Mary Papenfuss, Huffington Post | 01.14.2019

Nobel laureate James Watson has been stripped of honorary titles by the laboratory he once led after spewing more racist...

Stem cells in syringe being injected into knee
By Max Levy, Vox | 01.13.2019

Inside Mark Berman’s clinic in Rancho Mirage, California, is a sign he’s obliged by law to post. It reads “Not...

Blue double helix DNA strand on dark blue background
By Jing-Bao Nie and Alexander T.M. Cheung, The Hastings Center | 01.10.2019

In their single-minded venture of “producing” (shengchan, in their own word) the world’s first gene-edited babies, He Jiankui and...

Two feet standing on a scale
By Kristen V. Brown, Bloomberg | 01.08.2019

Consumer DNA-testing giant 23andMe Inc. plans to add new wellness offerings it hopes will help its customers shed a few...

A macro photo of human cells.
By Roberto Andorno and Alicia Ely Yamin, Open Global Rights | 01.08.2019

The gene-editing scandal that made headlines in late November, with researcher He Jiankui claiming to have created twin girls...

Person coming out of double helix DNA strand
By Kevin Mitchell, Scientific American | 01.07.2019

Is our future written in our genes? Recent developments in genetics give the impression of a rapidly increasing ability to...