News

These companies help parents try to pick their babies' traits. Experts are wary

By Rob Stein, NPR [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 05.06.2026

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

"These are saliva samples as well as blood," says Schleede, a geneticist who runs Herasight Inc.'s lab in Morrisville, N.C. "We also...

Genetic Selection

The Measured Listener

By Daniel Shanahan, Los Angeles Review of Books | 05.31.2026

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...

U.S. States

The start-ups dreaming of creating genetically modified babies

By Alexandre Piquard, Le Monde [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 05.22.2026

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

U.S. Federal

Natural Election

By Jonathan Basile, Los Ángeles Review of Books | 04.29.2026

WILLIAM BATESON, a foundational figure in the science of genetics at the turn of the last century, once recounted the...

Society

Plants That Glow in the Dark Spark Heated Debate

By Josh Dzieza, The Daily Beast | 08.18.2013
Late last month, the crowdfunding site Kickstarter quietly amended its rules. Genetically modified organisms joined alcohol, drugs, and firearms on...
Genomics

Study Probes DNA Search Method that Led to 'Grim Sleeper' Suspect

By Eryn Brown, Los Angeles Times | 08.15.2013
The state of California has been a leader in the use of familial DNA searches -- investigations that seek out...
Bioethics

Elementary, My Dear Fluffy: Cat DNA Solves Another Homicide

By Alan Boyle, NBC News | 08.14.2013
DNA readings from cat hairs have once again helped crack a homicide case — demonstrating the power of genetic pet...
U.S. Federal

Brown Vetoes Bill Allowing Women to Sell Eggs for Research

By Alex Matthews, Capitol Weekly | 08.14.2013
Gov. Brown vetoed controversial legislation that will allow egg donors to be compensated for oocytes, egg cells, provided for research...
Biopolitics

Should the Humanities Embrace Scientism? My Postmodern Response to Pinker’s Patronizing “Plea”

By John Horgan, Scientific American | 08.14.2013
Damn you, Gary Stix! I was just about to head off on a vacation when my old Scientific American buddy...
Biopolitics

Unhidden Traits: Genomic Data Privacy Debates Heat Up

By Abdul-Kareem Ahmed, Scientific American | 08.14.2013
Earlier this year Yaniv Erlich of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at M.I.T. sent bioethicists into a frenzy when...
Global Governance

US Brain Project Puts Focus on Ethics

By Helen Shen, Nature | 08.14.2013
The false mouse memories made the ethicists uneasy. By stimulating certain neurons in the hippocampus, Susumu Tonegawa and his colleagues...
Biopolitics

California Bill Would Redefine Sperm Donor Rights

By Carla Marinucci, San Francisco Chronicle | 08.13.2013
California's state Legislature is preparing to battle over a bill that could redefine the family unit and the parental rights...
Reproductive Justice, Health & Rights