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...

John Holdren is pictured against a solid mustard yellow background.
By Ed Yong, The Atlantic | 11.18.2016

In 1976, President Gerald Ford appointed physicist H. Guyford Stever as the first Director of the Office of Science and...

A bubble of soap--the size of an adult hand-- is being blown through a wand.
By Andrew Burmon, Inverse | 11.18.2016

When the Democratic Party gave up on technology, progressivism malfunctioned. Now, technophile liberals are preparing to fix a movement.

In...

A pregnant person stands close to a baby's crib.
By Didi Kirsten Tatlow, The New York Times | 11.17.2016

BEIJING — The Singapore government has deployed financial incentives and even Mentos mints to increase births. In Russia, more money...

An archived, black and white photo of David Starr Jordan who advocated eugenic practices.
By Jacqueline Lee, San Jose Mercury News | 11.17.2016

Incorporating the topic of eugenics and the city’s history with that practice into lesson plans at Palo Alto schools is an idea...

Microscopic image of nerological cells-- as an example of nondividing cells.
By Ian Johnston, The Independent [UK] | 11.16.2016

Scientists have discovered a new way to edit DNA that could fix “broken genes” in the brain, cure previously incurable...

Silver US Mail box, with the statement, "Approved by the Post-Master General." In the background of mailbox are leaves from a bush.
By Phil Galewitz, KQED California Healthline | 11.16.2016

When the abortion pills arrived in her mailbox this summer, she felt anxious but also in control, knowing she could...

Blueprint image of crystal structure of Cas9 in complex with guide RNA and "Target DNA"
By David Cyranoski, Nature News | 11.15.2016

The move by Chinese scientists could spark a biomedical duel between China and the United States.

A Chinese group has...

Philip Morris cigarette advertisement that promote it as "luxury to the lips... preventing tongue  and throat irritation."
By Liza Gross, The Intercept | 11.15.2016

At a time when public mistrust of science runs high, and non-experts are hard-pressed to separate fact from industry-sponsored spin...