News

Surrogacy goes more mainstream

By Carly Mallenbaum, Axios [cites Emily Galpern] | 03.29.2026

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...

U.S. Federal

Eugenics and the Modern Synthesis, Part I

By Jessica Riskin, Los Ángeles Review of Books | 03.23.2026

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...

Civil Society

Surrogacy laws are all over the map

By Carly Mallenbaum, Axios [cites Surrogacy360] | 03.29.2026

Without a federal law, surrogacy in the U.S. is governed by a patchwork of state regulations/

Why it matters: Confusing...

Policies

Project Eugenics: The Rollback of Disability Rights

By Kiana Jackson and Shannon Stubblefield, New Disabled South | 02.09.2026

"MC0_8230" via Wikimedia Commons licensed under CC by 2.0 

This report documents a deliberate assault on disabled people in...

U.S. States

Body Upgrades may be Nearing Reality, but Only for the Rich

By Ian Sample, The Guardian | 09.05.2014
Untitled Document

Homo sapiens were not always so special. In the ancient past, other human forms lived beside us. The...

Human Genetic Modification

Australian Federal Court Rules Isolated Genetic Material can be Patented

By The Guardian, The Guardian | 09.04.2014

The federal court has ruled that a company may patent genetic material that has been extracted from the human body...

Genomics

Where is the brain in the Human Brain Project?

By Yves Frégnac & Gilles Laurent, Nature | 09.03.2014
Launched in October 2013, the Human Brain Project (HBP) was sold by charismatic neurobiologist Henry Markram as a bold new...
Biotech & Pharma

Australian Father of Thai Surrogate Twins Charged with Sexually Abusing Them

By The Telegraph, The Telegraph | 09.02.2014

An Australian man has been charged with sexually abusing twin girls he fathered several years ago to a Thai surrogate...

Assisted Reproduction

Monument Seeks to End Silence on Killings of the Disabled by the Nazis

By Melissa Eddy, The New York Times | 09.02.2014
Untitled Document

BERLIN — The first to be singled out for systematic murder by the Nazis were the mentally ill...

Arts & Culture

Womb for rent: A heart to carry another woman’s baby

By Cecilia Okoth, New Vision | 09.02.2014

Imagine a woman desperately trying to get pregnant, but so far every attempt is unsuccessful. Would you be brave enough...

Other Countries

On the Horns of the GMO Dilemma

By Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review | 09.02.2014
Four years ago, Scott Fahrenkrug saw an ABC News segment about the dehorning of dairy cows, a painful procedure that...
Genomics

Synthetic biology goes for scale

By Joanna Glasner, Reuters | 09.02.2014
Synthetic biology, which uses engineered gene sequences to create new biological systems and devices, used to be a subject for...
Biotech & Pharma