November 10, 2025
(Wired) – An experimental gene-editing therapy developed by Crispr Therapeutics is showing promise for treating heart disease. In a step toward the wider use of gene editing, a treatment that uses Crispr successfully slashed high cholesterol levels in a small … Read More
November 10, 2025
Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics (vol. 46, no. 5, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
November 7, 2025
(NPR) – For James Watson, DNA was everything — not just his life’s work, but the secret of life itself. Over his long and storied career, Watson arguably did more than any other scientist to transform a once-obscure biological molecule, … Read More
November 3, 2025
(Nature) – In a world first, a bespoke gene-editing therapy benefited one child. Now researchers plan to launch a clinical trial of the approach. Late last year, dozens of researchers spanning thousands of miles banded together in a race to … Read More
October 31, 2025
(MIT Technology Review) – A West Coast biotech entrepreneur says he’s secured $30 million to form a public-benefit company to study how to safely create genetically edited babies, marking the largest known investment into the taboo technology. The new company, … Read More
October 27, 2025
(New York Times) – Tim Andrews, 67, lived with a genetically modified organ longer than any other recipient. Surgeons removed a genetically modified pig kidney from a 67-year-old man last week, nearly nine months after he received the pioneering procedure … Read More
October 24, 2025
(New Scientist) – Human embryos formed with in vitro fertilisation can develop genetic abnormalities in the time between genetic testing and implantation – though this may not affect their viability During in vitro fertilisation (IVF), embryos undergo genetic testing before … Read More
October 22, 2025
(Wired) – Researchers confirmed that sperm accumulate mutations over the years, increasing the risk of transmitting diseases to offspring. Human semen not only accumulates genetic mutations with age; as the percentage of sperm carrying potentially serious mutations increases, so does … Read More
October 22, 2025
Developing World Bioethics (vol. 25, no. 3, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
October 21, 2025
(MIT Technology Review) – Instead of relying on the same old recipe biology has followed for a billion years, give or take, Hanna is coaxing the beginnings of animal bodies directly from stem cells. Join these cells together in the … Read More
October 17, 2025
(MIT Technology Review) – Genetics experts have been highlighting the potential deficiencies of this testing for years. A 2021 paper by members of the European Society of Human Genetics said, “No clinical research has been performed to assess its diagnostic … Read More
October 16, 2025
(NBC News) – New research found that gene therapy for children with a form of severe combined immunodeficiency was successful in 95% of trial participants. Scientists have identified about 20 gene variants that cause SCID. Eliana’s form of the disease, … Read More
October 15, 2025
European Journal of Human Genetics (vol. 33, no. 9, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
October 14, 2025
(New York Times) – Scientists are searching for the secret in Doug Whitney’s biology that has protected him from dementia, hoping it could lead to ways to treat or prevent Alzheimer’s for many other people. For 14 years now, Mr. … Read More
October 14, 2025
(Nature) – Conservationists debate the pros and cons of using synthetic-biology techniques to alter wild species. The global conservation community is debating whether to ban the release of genetically modified organisms into the wild. Dozens of non-governmental organizations have called … Read More
October 14, 2025
(The Washington Post) – The study builds on growing genetic research into cannabis use, as policymakers grapple with the risks and benefits of the drug’s soaring popularity. The tendency to use cannabis is associated with genes linked to impulsive behavior, … Read More
October 10, 2025
(Euro News) – The liver performed key bodily functions, proving that pig organs can temporarily support human life, though serious complications eventually arose. In what researchers are calling a “landmark” in medical science, surgeons implanted a genetically engineered pig liver … Read More
October 9, 2025
(The Guardian) – Researchers in Australia find 16 genetic variants linked to depression in women but only eight in men Women carry a higher genetic risk of depression, a new study has found. Claiming to be the largest genetic study … Read More
October 7, 2025
(The New Atlantis) – We’re worrying about the wrong arms race with China. A curious feature of the last few years of anxieties about AI has been how they favor some dystopian fears over others. Right now, because of ChatGPT’s … Read More
October 2, 2025
(MIT Technology Review) – A team at Microsoft says it used artificial intelligence to discover a “zero day” vulnerability in the biosecurity systems used to prevent the misuse of DNA. These screening systems are designed to stop people from purchasing … Read More
October 1, 2025
Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy (vol. 28, no. 3, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
September 29, 2025
(Discover) – The vaccine is a modified version of the COVID-19 mRNA lipid nanoparticle vaccines. To create the allergy vaccine, researchers adjusted the mRNA message: instead of producing spike proteins like in the COVID-19 vaccine, the allergy vaccine instructs cells … Read More
September 29, 2025
(Aeon) – Countless species are dying from human-induced environmental change. Should we use genetic technology to alter and save them? It wasn’t our intention that humanity would become the planet’s greatest evolutionary force; yet the fact that we are confronts … Read More
September 29, 2025
Journal of Medical Ethics (vol. 51, no. 9, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
September 24, 2025
(BBC) – One of the cruellest and most devastating diseases – Huntington’s – has been successfully treated for the first time, say doctors. The disease runs through families, relentlessly kills brain cells and resembles a combination of dementia, Parkinson’s and … Read More
