News

Palantir Has a Hand in NIH’s Most Ambitious Health Initiative

By Julia Métraux, Mother Jones [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 07.07.2026

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...

U.S. Federal

The Measured Listener

By Daniel Shanahan, Los Angeles Review of Books | 05.31.2026

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...

U.S. States

These companies help parents try to pick their babies' traits. Experts are wary

By Rob Stein, NPR [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 05.06.2026

Justin Schleede reaches onto a black lab bench to pick up a tray of small plastic tubes.

"These are saliva...

Genetic Selection

The start-ups dreaming of creating genetically modified babies

By Alexandre Piquard, Le Monde [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 05.22.2026

"If proven to be safe, we believe preventive gene editing could be one of the most important health technologies of...

U.S. Federal
Red stained DNA markers

Two Native American geneticists interpret Elizabeth Warren’s DNA test

By Krystal Tsosie and Matthew Anderson, The Conversation | 10.22.2018

Dr. Carlos Bustamante, a prominent population geneticist, recently concluded that Senator Elizabeth Warren had “a Native American ancestor.” While geneticists...

Perspectives

Designer babies aren’t futuristic. They’re already here.

By Laura Hercher, MIT Technology Review | 10.22.2018

At first, Matthew assumed the weakness in his knee was the sort of orthopedic nuisance that happens when you turn...

Assisted Reproduction
Purple test tubes in rack

White-people-only DNA tests show how unequal science has become

By Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review | 10.18.2018

The DNA testing company Color Genomics says that early next year it will offer customers a new type of gene...

Genomics
Gloved hand on DNA sample

DNA Testing Can’t Tell Us Who We Really Are. It Can Tell the Cops.

By Max Read, Intelligencer | 10.17.2018

Do we know anything new about Elizabeth Warren, now that we’ve seen her DNA test results? Besides, I mean...

Genomics
Elizabeth Warren speaking at podium

Elizabeth Warren and the Folly of Genetic Ancestry Tests

By Alondra Nelson, The New York Times | 10.17.2018

This week, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts announced that geneticists had analyzed her DNA and proved her longstanding claim that...

Bioethics
Padlock attached to a DNA strand on a blue background.

Elizabeth Warren and the Death of Genetic Privacy

By Noah Feldman, Bloomberg | 10.15.2018

In theory, taking a DNA test to reveal your ancestry is optional. But it’s on its way to becoming obligatory...

Genomics
Elizabeth Warren speaking at a podium

The First DNA Test as Political Stunt

By Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic | 10.15.2018

Has there ever been such an elaborate rollout for the results of a DNA test?

On Monday morning, Elizabeth Warren—Massachusetts...

Genomics
Four rows of all of the human chromosomes, labeled by number

Most White Americans’ DNA Can Be Identified Through Genealogy Databases

By Heather Murphy, The New York Times | 10.11.2018

The genetic genealogy industry is booming. In recent years, more than 15 million people have offered up their DNA —...

Genomics