News

US startup charging couples to ‘screen embryos for IQ’

By Hannah Devlin, Tom Burgis, David Pegg, and Jason Wilson, The Guardian [cites CGS’ Katie Hasson] | 10.18.2024

A US startup company is offering to help wealthy couples screen their embryos for IQ using controversial technology that raises questions about the ethics of genetic enhancement.

The company, Heliospect Genomics, has worked with more than a dozen couples undergoing...

Genetic Selection

South Africa amended its research guidelines to allow for heritable human genome editing

By Françoise Baylis and Katie Hasson, The Conversation | 10.24.2024

A little-noticed change to South Africa’s national health research guidelines, published in May of this year, has put the country on an ethical precipice. The newly added language appears to position the country as the first to explicitly permit...

Policies

The New Artificial Intelligentsia

By Ruha Benjamin, Los Angeles Review of Books | 10.18.2024

IN THE FALL OF 2016, I gave a talk at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton titled “Are Robots...

A "Post-Human" Future?

What Do You Risk With At-Home DNA Test Kits?

By Ashleigh Wyss [cites CGS' Katie Hasson], Listnr | 10.09.2024

Discovering your genetic history can be as simple as spitting into a test tube, but what happens when your data...

Society
Image of a stethoscope

Physicians face confusion and fear in post-Roe world

By Ariana Eunjung Cha, The Washington Post | 06.28.2022

Photo by Hush Naidoo Jade Photography on Unsplash

It had been barely 80 minutes since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned ...

Assisted Reproduction
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Reproductive control of Indigenous women continues around the world, say survivors and researchers

By Gillian Rutherford, The University of Alberta | 06.27.2022

Photo by Jason Hafso on Unsplash

Survivors of forced sterilization and coerced contraception from Canada, Peru and Indonesia will gather...

Other Countries
Image of lab

Amid the Turmoil of Covid, Biosafety Legislation Gets Political

By Michael Schulson, Undark Magazine | 06.27.2022

Photo by Trnava University on Unsplash

IN MARCH 2021, three members of Congress sent a long letter to the director of...

U.S. Federal
Image of a tray of test tubes

Genetic Screening Results Just Got Harder to Handle Under New Abortion Rules

By Sara Reardon, Kaiser Health News | 06.27.2022

Photo by Testalize.me on Unsplash

Ann was 15 weeks pregnant with her fourth child when the results of her prenatal...

Genetic Selection
Image of a protest sign with the words "my body my choice"

With Roe v. Wade overturned, disabled people reflect on how it will impact them

By Shruti Rajkumar , NPR | 06.25.2022

Photo by Reed Naliboff on Unsplash

In 2008, around eight weeks into her second pregnancy, Robin Wilson-Beattie began experiencing hyperemesis...

Policies
Image of a sign reading "keep abortion safe and legal"

A Preview of the Dangerous Future of Abortion Bans — Texas Senate Bill 8

By Whitney Arey, Ph.D et al.,, The New England Journal of Medicine | 06.22.2022

Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash

When the U.S. Supreme Court issues its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health...

U.S. States
Image of DNA

Side Effects May Include … A Completely New Hair Color?

By Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic | 06.22.2022

Photo by ANIRUDH on Unsplash

In October 2019, Jordan Janz became the first person in the world to receive an...

Human Genetic Modification
Image of a genome sequence

Half in UK back genome editing to prevent severe diseases

By Ian Sample , The Guardian | 06.22.2022

More than half the UK backs the idea of rewriting the DNA of human embryos to prevent severe or life-threatening...

Assisted Reproduction