News

A Chinese scientist horrified the world in 2018 when he revealed he had secretly engineered the birth of the world's first gene-edited babies.

His work was reviled as reckless and unethical because, among other reasons, gene-editing was so new...

INTRODUCTION

Baby bonuses. Motherhood medals. Fertility tracking. You may have heard of these policy proposals as solutions from the Trump administration to help encourage women to have more children.

Besides falling short of ensuring that people have what they need...

Adapted from Mitochondrial DNA at
National Human Genome Research Institute

Recently, media outlets around the world have been reporting on...

A newly available kind of genetic testing, called polygenic embryo screening, promises to screen for conditions that can include cancer...

embryo graphic
By Hannah Devlin, The Guardian | 07.05.2025

Scientists are just a few years from creating viable human sex cells in the lab, according to an internationally renowned...

Sperm donation graphic
By Emma Haslett, The Observer | 07.05.2025

The controversial founder of a Danish sperm bank has launched a new app in the UK that allows sperm donors...

DNA graphic
By John H. Evans, Craig Callender, Neal K. Devaraj, Farren J. Isaacs, and Gregory E. Kaebnick, Issues in Science and Technology | 07.04.2025

The controversy around a ban on “mirror life” should lead to a more nuanced public conversation about how to manage...

gene therapy graphic
By Maoli Duan, The Conversation | 07.02.2025

Up to three in every 1,000 newborns has hearing loss in one or both ears. While cochlear implants offer remarkable...

image of identical looking babies
By Jamie Marsella, Teen Vogue | 07.02.2025

In March, at a White House event celebrating Women’s History Month, President Trump dubbed himself the “fertilization president,”...

Graphic of human head with circuit board
By Maren Behrensen, Tech Policy Press | 07.02.2025

Why is it dangerous when corporate executives, entrepreneurs and investors with enormous wealth and power collectively control the development and...

Graphic of DNA
By Joel Kotkin, UnHerd | 07.01.2025

Visionaries, dreamers, and autocrats have long dreamt of reshaping humanity to their preferred model. In the last century, eugenics was...

Elon Musk
By Al Letson, Reveal | 06.28.2025

Photo "Elon Musk Presenting Tesla's Fully Autonomous Future" by  on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

What do Silicon...