Guardian Science Weekly

The US tech startup promising smarter babies

Loading player...
A startup company, Heliospect Genomics, is offering to help wealthy couples screen their embryos for IQ using controversial technology that raises questions about the ethics of genetic enhancement. Science correspondent Hannah Devlin tells Madeleine Finlay about the joint investigation into the company by the Guardian and the campaign group Hope Not Hate. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod
29 Oct 2024 English United Kingdom Science · Nature

Other recent episodes

Live episode: how AI is reshaping our minds

In this episode of Science Weekly, recorded in front of an audience at the London podcast festival on 3 September, Ian Sample hears from Michael Safi, the host of the Guardian’s chart-topping podcast about artificial intelligence, Black Box. In series two, Black Box: the chatbots, Michael meets people who have…
13 Sep 1 hr 22 min

Are rich people really worse behaved? Here’s the science

Who’s more likely to steal sweets from a child? According to science, it’s the rich. A study seemingly confirming our suspicions about the moral behaviour of the wealthy was one of the winners of the 2026 Ig Nobel prizes, which honour research that makes you laugh and then think. Science…
8 Sep 18 min

Introducing Black Box: The Chatbots

From the Guardian Investigates team: Across the world, hundreds of people have come to believe they have made extraordinary scientific discoveries with AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. Others say their AI has ‘awakened’ or is leading them to a higher spiritual realm. The Guardian journalist Michael Safi…
6 Sep 39 min

There’s a quick way to slow climate change. Why isn’t everyone doing it?

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that traps more than 80 times as much heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period and causes 25% of global heating today. We definitely don’t want this gas spewing needlessly into the atmosphere, but in 2023 that’s exactly what environment editor Damian Carrington…
3 Sep 13 min
All episodes