News

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...

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...

Pronatalism is an old idea with roots in eugenics and nationalism, that is now fashionable among far-right influencers and policymakers. They talk...

This is the 10th installment in the Legacies of Eugenics series, which features essays by leading thinkers devoted to exploring...

Close up photo of a yellow winged moth against a white background.
By Eric Niiler, Wired | 05.10.2017

A HALF-INCH-LONG MOTH that devours kale, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts may not inspire the same fear as a Zika-carrying mosquito, but...

Circular dial containing birth control pills.
By Theresa Vargas, Washington Post | 05.09.2017

The message wasn’t subtle in one of the first advertisements for the birth control pill. Greek mythological figure Andromeda is...

Black and white photo, in bug's eye view, looking up at a person balancing on a tightrope.
By Friends of the Earth, Emerging Tech Project | 05.09.2017

The Australian Academy of Sciences has joined a growing number of groups calling for a national discussion on a range...

A laboratory scientist uses s a gloved hand to insert a pipette to remove DNA liquid in micro test tube.
By Paul Sisson, San Diego Tribune | 05.08.2017

One of every three genetic tests examined by a team of researchers at the San Diego Naval Medical Center shouldn’t...

A mother's hands grips a child's hand, who is wearing a bracelet.
By Annie Gowen, Washington Post | 05.08.2017

Members of a Hindu far-right organization called Arogya Bharati say they are working with expectant couples in the country to...

A double helix is stained blue against a black background.
By Ryan Cross, Science Magazine | 05.08.2017

Tuesday morning, more than 200 biologists, businesspeople, and ethicists will converge on the New York Genome Center in New York...

Several filing folders are placed side by side vertically. They have several papers stuffed into them, with old labels around the folder itself.
By Anna Azvolinsky, The Scientist | 05.05.2017

Less than half of completed stem cell studies in humans are published in peer-reviewed journals, according to an analysis of

...
A white baby in a business suit, leans in and points at a laptop screen.
By Rachel Lehmann-Haupt, Neo.Life [cites Marcy Darnovsky] | 05.04.2017

Seeing a thousand of my potential progeny gave me a glimpse of new things that future parents will stress over.

“It...