News

More Americans are turning to surrogacy to build their families, as the practice becomes more common and more publicly discussed.

Why it matters: As surrogacy becomes more visible and accessible, ethical, legal and cultural tensions become harder to ignore...

This is the first part of the 14th 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. The series is organized by...

Without a federal law, surrogacy in the U.S. is governed by a patchwork of state regulations/

Why it matters: Confusing...

"MC0_8230" via Wikimedia Commons licensed under CC by 2.0 

This report documents a deliberate assault on disabled people in...

Book cover for Catherine Bliss' book, "Social by Nature" IT features a double helix. The book is divided with a warm colors of yellow and red on its upper half, and white and blue cool colors at the bottom half.
By Nathaniel Comfort, Nature | 01.15.2018

In the beginning, there was nature. Then the statistician Francis Galton — Charles Darwin’s half-cousin — set nature (heredity) in...

Gray-scale close-up of a compass. pointing north.
By Matthew Hansen, Omaha World-Herald | 01.12.2018

In a few short years, the parents of a newborn will know the baby’s full genome — every last secret...

A laboratory scientist, looks into a microscope.
By Marsha Michie, Prenatal Information Research Consortium | 01.12.2018

Genome-wide sequencing is increasingly being conducted on fetal tissues, either as whole exome sequencing (WES), whole genome sequencing (WGS), or...

A curved tunnel-like structure with repeating number sequences. The curved tunnel subtly suggests a light at the end of it.
By Carol Lynn Curchoe and Charles L. Bormann, Scientific American | 01.10.2018

Infertility treatment is an emotional and financial rollercoaster. For couples trying to conceive (“TTC” in the many on-line support forums)...

An empty doctors office, featuring a patient bed, a red chair, a hand sanitizer sipernser, and several instrumental tools on a wall.
By Nana Matoba, Scientific American | 01.10.2018

Dubbed “Snowbaby,” Emma Gibson is now more than a month old

Her birth made headlines globally recently as her 25-year-old...

A black and white filtered image of a pregnant stomach exposed.
By Yon Sineat, Kong Meta and Erin Handley, Phnom Penh Post | 01.10.2018

Malis* sits under her home in a remote village with her legs folded under her swelling belly. She’s six months...

In a grass field, a brown and white cow stares. On its right ear, there is an identification tag.
By Andrew Rosenblum, MIT Technology Review | 01.10.2018

Gene editing can change an animal’s sex.

A graduate student was waiting for Alison Van Eenennaam in the doorway of...

A desk with the following items: wooden gavel, and two Federal Reporters books tacked on each other.
By Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post | 01.09.2018

During three emotional days of divorce talks, Drake and Mandy Rooks managed to agree on how to divide up almost...