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
Rows of students wearing blue school uniforms sit at desks and take notes.

Genetic Intelligence Tests Are Next to Worthless

By Carl Zimmer, The Atlantic | 05.29.2018

In 2016, I got my genome sequenced while I was working on a book about heredity. Some scientists kindly pointed...

Eugenics
Close up of a hand holding a test tube and inserting a pipette into the tube.

Ancestry wants your spit, your DNA and your trust. Should you give them all three?

By Stuart Leavenworth, McClatchy DC Bureau [Cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 05.29.2018

It markets its DNA kits with promises that tug at the heartstrings: Discover ancestors. Strengthen family ties. Understand your life...

Genomics
A close up photograph of a male Japanese baby lying down on a bed in pajamas with eyes closed.

No country resorts to IVF more than Japan—or has less success

By The Economist, The Economist | 05.26.2018

The sterile façade of Kato Ladies Clinic gives little hint of the fecundity inside. Nestling among a plantation of high-rises...

Other Countries
13 sperm cells are illuminated in red and green against a black background.

How stress echoes down the generations

By The Economist, The Economist | 05.24.2018

The effects of child abuse can last a lifetime. Neglected or abused children have a higher risk of developing all sorts...

Technologies
Close up of several white chicken eggs.

Here's What It's Really Like to Freeze Your Eggs

By Emilia Benton, Popsugar [cites CGS] | 05.24.2018

I'm 31 years old, recently married, and on the fence about ever having children. I've never been completely against...

Technologies
Black and white image of Dr. Frankenstein standing over his creation, a humanoid creature which lays strapped to a bed.

Can We Make Life?

By Nova Wonders, PBS [Cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 05.23.2018

"It's alive!" Since Dr. Frankenstein spoke those famous words, we've been alternately enthralled and terrified by the idea of creating life in the...

Animal Biotechnologies
A man in a lab coat and gloves examines a purple DNA profile.

Consumer DNA testing promises more than it delivers

By Tina Hesman Saey, ScienceNews | 05.22.2018

In Nevada, 40,000 people are stepping up to the cutting edge of precision medicine. They are getting their DNA...

Technologies
Close up of a man's hands typing on a laptop.

‘It’s a toxic place.’ How the online world of white nationalists distorts population genetics

By Michael Price, Science Magazine | 05.22.2018

A little more than a year ago, Jedidiah Carlson was searching online for a 2008 paper in Natureanalyzing hundreds...

Eugenics