News

During his 2015 State of the Union address, then-President Barack Obama announced what he promised would be an ambitious public health project. “Tonight, I’m launching a new Precision Medicine Initiative to bring us closer to curing diseases like cancer and diabetes...

This is the 15th 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. You can read the first part here. The series...

Justin Schleede reaches onto a black lab bench to pick up a tray of small plastic tubes.

"These are saliva...

"If proven to be safe, we believe preventive gene editing could be one of the most important health technologies of...

Five soldiers are dressed in protective gear, seeming to scout the area of land. The air appears thick and musty.
By Peter Apps, Reuters | 04.20.2017

With the threat of chemical weapons in Syria and nuclear arms in North Korea, the risk of biological weapons has...

Black and white photo of an hour glass, with sand falling.
By Bradley J. Fikes, San Diego Tribune [quotes Marcy Darnovsky] | 04.20.2017

Are Californians getting their money’s worth for the $3 billion they invested in stem cell science in 2004? Is there...

A red-glowing exit sign hangs above a hall way's ceiling.
By Ben Hirschler, Reuters | 04.20.2017

The biotech company behind the Western world's first gene therapy and the most expensive prescription medicine in history is giving...

Bird's eye view of Silicon Valley landscape.
By Casey Johnston, New York Magazine | 04.18.2017

Two years after the $9 billion start-up “unicorn” Theranos crumbled, Silicon Valley still appears to be struggling to learn its...

An adult hands open a tiny pink box, as a child hand holds two puzzle pieces.
By Kristen V. Brown, Gizmodo | 04.18.2017

It’s a nightmare scenario straight out of a primetime drama: a child-seeking couple visits a fertility clinic to try...

Statue of "Lady of Justice" in front of a courthouse dome.
By Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times | 04.18.2017

A San Diego federal judge on Tuesday cleared a lawsuit against a La Jolla clinic purporting to offer stem cell...

A male figure places his hands on a see-through digital screen. In the background are DNA strands and highlighted bones in the body.
By Edd Gent, Singularity Hub | 04.18.2017

Attempts to distill the essence of “selfhood” have occupied philosophers for centuries. Consensus has been fleeting at best, but is...

Barbed wire fence against the silhoutte of a sky.
By Anne Marie Green, CBS News | 04.15.2017

A new high-tech, controversial law enforcement procedure has some people worried it threatens the privacy of our DNA

I first...