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...

A young woman of color with an intravenous line is dressed in a hospital gown, and lays on the hospital bed, looking over to a newborn child that is supported by a gloved hand against the back of their head.
By Erin Blakemore, Washington Post | 10.15.2017

If you work at such places as Google, Facebook and Apple, your health insurance includes an unusual feature: coverage for...

Six pills are in focus on a white table. A medicine bottle is blurred in the background.
By Charles Piller, STAT | 10.12.2017

The anarchist grew animated as he explained his plan to subvert a pillar of global capitalism by teaching the poor...

 Two male scientists wearing lab coats in a laboratory looking at an illuminated board, reading the genetic code in the DNA.
By Lauren Kirschner, ProPublica | 10.11.2017

The National Institute of Standards and Technology announced last week that it is launching a new study of certain types...

Two young women, with protective eye wear and gloved hands, use plastic lab materials to look at a test tube filled with a pink liquid
By Adele Peters, Fast Company | 10.10.2017

“What we’ve got here is some DNA, and this is a syringe,” Josiah Zayner tells a room full of synthetic...

Empty race track with the lane numbers of 6, 7, and 8 marked.
By Michael Le Page, New Scientist | 10.09.2017

The battle between sports cheats and testers is poised to enter a whole new arena. The World Anti-Doping Agency has...

A young girl has ber back turned away from the camera, and sits on a rock, with jeans a brown t-shirt, and long hair. She looks onward to a rock and landscape.
By Sara Reardon, Nature | 10.06.2017

Tribal leaders are developing a policy for genetic research and data sharing, potentially ending a 15-year moratorium.

When the Navajo...

Portrait of Kazuo Ishiguro
By Ben Richmond, Vice Motherboard | 10.05.2017

Kazuo Ishiguro is a Silicon Valley skeptic, a science fiction writer who publicly pissed off Ursula Le Guin and, as...

An Orphan Black promotional poster, featuring two side by side portraits of a woman, with the headline "I am not your property" and "I am not your weapon."
By Elizabeth Preston, Neo.Life | 10.05.2017

A thriller about cloning, gene editing, and bioengineering is the perfect show for our times.

You don’t usually see TV shows...