News

Developments in gene-editing technology raise new ethical questions

By [cites CGS' Katie Hasson], KCBS Radio | 11.19.2025

This is Ask An Expert, where every weekday at 9:20am, KCBS Radio is giving you direct access to top experts in various fields. Today: Gene-editing technology allows scientists to work with DNA in unprecedented ways, but there are larger scientific...

U.S. Federal

Genetically Engineered Babies Are Banned. Tech Titans Are Trying to Make One Anyway.

By Emily Glazer, Katherine Long, Amy Dockser Marcus, The Wall Street Journal | 11.08.2025

For months, a small company in San Francisco has been pursuing a secretive project: the birth of a genetically engineered baby.

Backed by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and his husband, along with Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong, the startup—called...

Genetic Selection

Who Gets to Procreate and Parent? A Black Feminist Critique of the Pronatalist Agenda

By Jallicia A. Jolly, Sydney Curtis and Nicole Sessions, Ms. Magazine | 10.17.2025

Pronatalism is an old idea with roots in eugenics and nationalism, that is now fashionable among far-right influencers and policymakers. They talk...

U.S. Federal

Does One Size Fit All?

By Jay S. Kaufman, Los Angeles Review of Books | 09.27.2025

This is the 10th installment in the Legacies of Eugenics series, which features essays by leading thinkers devoted to exploring...

Society
Zoomed into the edge of a brown conference table. Black chairs flank the table and notepads and pencils lie on top.

As CRISPR–Cas adoption soars, summit calls for genome editing oversight

By Eric Smalley, Nature Biotechnology | 06.06.2018
Researchers are using a pair of initiatives, launched within a...
Policies
A gloved hand examines a blue tray of red and green DNA test results.

Why a DNA data breach is much worse than a credit card leak

By Angela Chen, The Verge | 06.06.2018

This week, DNA testing service MyHeritage revealed that hackers had breached 92 million of its accounts. Though the hackers...

Bioethics
A key is inserted into a gold padlock against a white background.

One of America’s Biggest Genetic Testing Companies Refuses to Publicly Share Data That Could Save Countless Lives

By Kat McGowan, Mother Jones | 06.06.2018

Barbara Zeughauser had lost so many relatives to cancer: Her mother, her uncle, her grandmother, her second cousin. She thought...

Biopolitics

Clinic Claims Success In Making Babies With 3 Parents' DNA

By Rob Stein, NPR [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 06.06.2018

In a clinic on a side street in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, doctors are doing something that, as far...

Assisted Reproduction
Black and white photo of an old hospital room.

Eugenics never went away

By Robert A. Wilson, Aeon | 06.05.2018

Eugenics was a mixture of science and social movement that aimed to improve the human race over generations. Those of...

Other Countries
A female, African American protester holds a sign that reads, "Sterilization of mothers violates U.N. charter. Vote No on House Bill 20."

Eugenics today: where eugenic sterilisation continues now

By Robert A Wilson, Aeon | 06.05.2018

Eugenics was a mixture of science and social movement that aimed to improve the human race over generations. Those of...

Other Countries
A black and white print depicting the exterior of the Cheshire Lunatic Asylum.

How asylums became the crucible of genetics

By David Dobbs, Nature | 06.05.2018

Who founded genetics? The line-up usually numbers four. William Bateson and Wilhelm Johannsen coined the terms genetics and gene, respectively...

Eugenics
Image of a white cotton swab and clear test tube against a white background.

Genealogy site MyHeritage says 92 million user accounts compromised

By Megan Thielking, Stat News | 06.05.2018

MyHeritage, one of the nation’s most popular online genealogy sites, said a security breach had affected the email addresses and...

Technologies