We’re developing high-tech genetic tools to pour new life into animals lost to human destruction. Deciding how — and whether — to use that power is as complex as the science behind it.
genetics
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Feature, Nonfiction, Story
Breaking the Family Silence on Alcoholism
Alicia Lutes contemplates her family’s history of addiction, her mother’s failing liver, and the effect it’s all had on her generation.
Posted inEssays & Criticism
Becoming Family
Jennifer Berney explores how queer families challenge traditional notions of heredity and paternity.
Posted inHighlight, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
A Fascinating Case of Precocious Puberty
Patrick Burleigh carried an extremely rare genetic mutation, which brought on puberty prematurely.
Posted inEditor's Pick
A 4-Year-Old Trapped in a Teenager’s Body
Like all the men in his family, Patrick Burleigh carried an extremely rare genetic mutation, which led to “precocious puberty” and a confusing, challenging childhood in which he experienced dramatic physical changes — like pubic hair — as early as age 2.
Posted inEditor's Pick
How a DNA Testing Kit Revealed a Family Secret Hidden for 54 Years
A personal essay by memoirist Dani Shapiro about discovering, accidentally through DNA testing, that the father she knew was not her biological parent. In the piece she advocates for the rights of children produced through assisted reproduction, after decades in which those of parents and donor prevailed, and children were kept in the dark about […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Bastard: Neither of My Parents Was Exactly Who I Thought They Were
In this personal essay, author Elizabeth Wurtzel shares the bombshell that was recently dropped on her — that her father was not Donald Wurtzel, but rather civil rights era photojournalist Bob Adelman — and tries to make sense of her mother’s choice to keep the secret of her affair (and her daughter’s true paternity) for […]
Posted inBlog Post, Nonfiction, Unapologetic Women
When to (Not) Have Kids
At a bleak moment in human history, these essays explore the case for not reproducing.
Posted inEditor's Pick, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction
The Joys and Sorrows of Watching My Own Birth
Shelby Vittek reflects on the bittersweet experience of watching herself be born — and her now-divorced mom and dad become parents — again and again.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
The Joys and Sorrows of Watching My Own Birth
Shelby Vittek reflects on the bittersweet experience of watching herself be born — and her now-divorced mom and dad become parents — again and again.