Genetic Crossroads

Women are reaching for the stars to freeze their eggs and preserve their fertility, and the stars are doing it too. But is this technology, and delayed child-bearing, the answer to the balancing act between work and motherhood? Read More

Recent synthetic biology projects related to malaria, flu and conservation are providing PR cover for the field and its corporate sponsors. Read More

Doctors are now discussing how to respond to "incidental findings" in genetic tests — unexpected data that could be relevant to a different condition than the one tested for. Should they tell? Even if nothing can be done? Even if the patient is a child, and the condition won't appear till much later in life? Read More

The UK regulatory agency’s summary of its public consultation on mitochondria replacement highlights "broad public support" for a procedure that would cross a crucial ethical and policy line. But that support is not actually demonstrated in its data. Read More

Regulatory approval for mitochondria replacement would be the first instance of official recognition for human inheritable genetic modification, and could be used as a wedge for more and different kinds. Read More

A new report from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture focuses on human rights abuses in health-care settings, and bolsters LGBTQI activists in the fight against involuntary sterilizations and genital-normalizing surgeries. Read More

In a case that will have a profound consequence on Americans' lives and privacy rights, the United States Supreme Court will hear a case later this month to determine the legality of collecting DNA from people who are arrested for, but not convicted of, any crime. Read More

A group of California high school students have started a petition asking that textbook standards and curricula be changed to include the state’s history of sterilization and eugenics. Read More

The Swedish law that required transgender people to undergo sterilization before they could be legally recognized as another gender has been recognized as a violation of human rights. Read More

A California fertility clinic is using “desirable” sperm and eggs to create batches of embryos that it then splits among multiple infertile couples. Read More

The New Normal showcases a light-hearted vision of surrogacy and gay parenthood that has moving moments, but largely misses the mark. Read More

Scientists plan to extract DNA from the skeleton of Joseph Merrick, known as the "elephant man," in hopes that they can finally explain the cause of his disfigurement. What are the ethical implications? Read More

A recent study considers the troubling off-label use of a risky drug in pregnant women whose baby girls may not be born with normal-looking genitals. Read More

The approach of the Olympics sparks the usual flood of pro-doping and pro-enhancement articles, notably an interview with Oxford ethics professor Julian Savulescu. Read More