Turkey Trouble: Genetics Gone Too Far?
Regular old selective breeding can create monsters like the industrial turkey, giant with grotesquely over-sized breasts and muscles. This raises the obvious ethical question: Just because we can breed this…
ethics
Global Gender Gap Report 2012: The Best And Worst Countries For Women
Excerpt: “Gender equality has been more of a national focus than usual in the United States over the past few months, thanks to the 2012 presidential election. But how does…
Geneticists Breach Ethical Taboo By Changing Genes Across Generations
Geneticists from Oregon Health & Science University in Portland reported Wednesday(10/24) that they had crossed a threshold long considered off-limits: They have made changes in human DNA that can be…
California Boy Ordered To Transfer Schools For Carrying Cystic Fibrosis Gene
Excerpt: Colman Chadam, an 11-year-old California boy, has been ordered to transfer from his current school to another one miles away because of his genetic makeup. Now, his parents are…
Time to Cooperate: Studying The Effects Of Environmental Stress On How People Behave
Until now, analysis of the environment has been the domain of social scientists, who have elaborated the correlations between environment and health or behaviour — for example, that a deprived…
Three-Parent Babies
A new IVF technique being debated in England uses three genetic parents to create an embryo. This procedure helps avoid possible mitochondrial disease, but some caution that it’s too soon…