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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...

Three cotton swabs stand inside of a see-through glass container.
By Charles Piller, STAT | 02.28.2017

For doctors, the brochure from a California medical laboratory sounded like easy money: $30 for every person enrolled in a...

A feminine figure is sitting, holding a clock between her arms. The figure herself is out of focus.
By Angelina Chapin, New York Magazine [cites Marcy Darnovsky] | 02.28.2017

When Jo Dhesi froze her eggs in early February she chose to avoid the typical fertility clinic. Instead, the newly...

A one-hundred dollar bill is cut into pieces on  a cutting board. Below the bill is a kitchen knife.
By David Malakoff, Science | 02.27.2017

The chunk of the federal budget that includes most of the U.S. government’s spending on basic science would shrink by...

Five illustrated sperm cells "swim" toward the upper left corner.
By Wendy Kramer, BioNews | 02.27.2017

Since 2000, the Donor Sibling Registry (DSR) has connected more than 14,000 donor-conceived individuals with their donors and half-siblings. We've...

A white infant stares directly, with blue eyes. The baby's mouth is slightly opened.
By Marcy Darnovsky, Bioscience Technology | 02.27.2017

Over the past few years, researchers have developed a set of powerful new techniques for altering and synthesizing DNA. These...

Two youths--a male and female-- concentrate in a lab procedure. The male holds a pipette. The female holds the sample.
By Amy Dockser Marcus, Wall Street Journal | 02.26.2017

The Crispr technique lets amateurs enter a world that has been the exclusive domain of scientists

Kian Sadeghi has postponed homework...

A baby, sitting inside of a crib, playfully looks to the side. One hand is holding a bar of the crib. Light pours out from a nearby window.
By Lindsay Murdoch, Sydney Morning Herald | 02.26.2017

Up to 10 surrogacy-born babies with Australian biological parents are stuck in legal limbo in Cambodia after a crackdown on...

Double helix angled in the corner
By Francoise Baylis, Impact Ethics | 02.17.2017

Françoise Baylis wonders how it is that in 14 months (from December 2015 to February 2017), the U.S. National Academy

...