News

A Chinese scientist horrified the world in 2018 when he revealed he had secretly engineered the birth of the world's first gene-edited babies.

His work was reviled as reckless and unethical because, among other reasons, gene-editing was so new...

INTRODUCTION

Baby bonuses. Motherhood medals. Fertility tracking. You may have heard of these policy proposals as solutions from the Trump administration to help encourage women to have more children.

Besides falling short of ensuring that people have what they need...

Adapted from Mitochondrial DNA at
National Human Genome Research Institute

Recently, media outlets around the world have been reporting on...

A newly available kind of genetic testing, called polygenic embryo screening, promises to screen for conditions that can include cancer...

Demonstrators hold a banner stating "Trans Solidarity for justice, against transphobia." Other signs and protesters follow
By Liam Stack, New York Times | 04.12.2017

Changing the name or gender on a government-issued document like a driver’s license has long included a frightening step for...

A book lies open in the middle, propped up by a book stand. Out of focus, in the background are several other books and religious artifacts.
By Los Angeles Times | 04.11.2017

Scientist have begun to bring together stem cells that reorganize themselves to form ebryo-like structures. It won’t be long before...

A smeared coffee mug sits on a little platter beside an opened laptop computer with charts.
By Mary Ann Mason and Tom Ekman, Wired [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 04.11.2017

While sperm has been successfully frozen for decades, it wasn’t until 1999, when flash-freezing procedures were introduced, that eggs could...

A woman of color holds a demonstration sign reading, "George Orwell, Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood--They warned us!"
By Anne Fausto-Sterling, Gap Junction Science | 04.11.2017

The January 21, 2017 Women’s March on Washington, DC was quite the eye-opener. I am not a naïve marcher, since...

23andMe logo featuring a pink and green chromosome.
By Turna Ray, Genome Web | 04.11.2017

The top organization in the US responsible for developing genetic testing guidelines is not on board with the US Food...

A 23andMe box is opened, revealing the spit kit equipment.
By Dave Gershgorn, Quartz | 04.10.2017

Doctors are losing their role as the gatekeeper of our health information, for better or worse.

Last week, the US...

Jeff Sessions, a white male, wear a pair of glasses. He sits behind a desk and points a finger, about to make a statement.
By Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post | 04.10.2017

Attorney General Jeff Sessions will end a Justice Department partnership with independent scientists to raise forensic science standards and has...

Black and white photo of human skull.
By John Gray, New Statesman | 04.09.2017

Meet the transhumanists who believe that the brain can outlive the body.

"Dead of the world, unite!” Appearing in a...