The rise of “looksmaxxing” is linked to Trump and his allies’ efforts to mainstream white nationalism, eugenics and the idea that “a certain kind of person belongs in America.”
www.npr.org/2026/02/...
A New Disabled South report shows how the Trump administration’s mutually reinforcing strategies of dismantling, punishment, and dehumanization, all of which rely on and bolster eugenic ideas and narratives, harm disabled people and communities.
He funded transhumanist research and corresponded with prominent adherents to the ideology, including Peter Thiel and Elon Musk. Like other transhumanists, Epstein was interested in cryonics, designer babies, and the immortality of elite billionaires.
Jeffrey Epstein was closely connected to transhumanism, a movement that takes eugenics a step further by attempting to bring about a future of “posthumans” with little interest in what happens to existing persons. 1/2
Ukraine is funding the cryopreservation of soldiers’ sperm so that they can have children even if they are injured in the war with Russia. WIth written consent, a soldier’s partner can use their frozen sperm to conceive in the event of their death.
Grant funding from the NIH was supporting the Native BioData Consortium’s efforts toward indigenous health data sovereignty and information-sharing, but the funding was abruptly cut –– part of a broad effort by the Trump administration to rescind NIH grants.
White nationalists further entrench this insidious idea by linking physical optimization with racial hierarchies.
RFK Jr.’s embrace of fitness culture showed his recognition of the pipeline that drives young men from fitness content to political radicalization, where terms like “looksmaxxing” reflect eugenic assumptions that human value depends on a narrow ideal of physical appearance. 1/2
With geopolitical upheaval comes uncertainty in the realm of bioethics. It’s unclear which sources of bioethics authority will prevail in a radically revised global order and what the implications will be for clinical trials, biotechnologies, and global health.
Microgravity, radiation, and extreme climates pose ethical and biological issues for travel to other planets. One scientist proposes genetically enhancing humans with other species' traits, essentially directing evolution to make humans adapted to life on Mars and beyond.
The FDA is spelling out the details of a new "plausible mechanism" pathway to help speed personalized cell and gene therapies to market for rare diseases. It would significantly alter the approval process, but FDA officials said approval standards would not change.
Newly released emails from Epstein not only reveal the extent of his obsession w/ eugenics, but also show how public intellectuals and scientists tolerated or endorsed his pseudoscientific ideas.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/02/epstein-emails-eugenics-chomsky-altruism-billionaires/
Jennifer Doudna plans to raise $1B for her Innovative Genomics Institute to support the next generation of scientists and fund research on personalized gene editing treatments, Crispr therapies for common diseases, and environmental gene-editing applications.
www.forbes.com/sites...
Unethical research and efforts to undermine vaccine recommendations are part of a darker turn toward "soft eugenics" in US public health policy.
Some scientific researchers are concerned that CIRM’s new funding priorities, preferences, and review processes are ignoring research that could help patients. The dispute will be front and center at a public meeting in late March.
https://david293.substack.com/p/a-california-question-how-to-turn
Panelists include CGS Executive Director Katie Hasson, former ED Marcy Darnovsky, Advisory Board members, and several CGS colleagues. Find out more and register here:
belonging.berkeley.edu/eugenics
Join the Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley on April 10-11 for a gathering that will explore the persistence of eugenic logics and practices in science, medicine, and technology and how we can build a better future. 1/2
@obi-belonging.bsky.social
Trump claims that the new “TrumpRx” site will reduce drug prices for 43 name-brand drugs, but analysis by Stat found that half of them are already available as generics for much less.
https://www.statnews.com/2026/02/06/trumprx-discount-drug-website-undercut-by-cheaper-generics/
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services director Mehmet Oz urged people to get vaccinated against measles. The endorsement comes amid RFK Jr.’s repeated undermining of the vaccine’s safety and efficacy.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/well/dr-mehmet-oz-measles-vaccine.html
New Epstein files show his interest in eugenics and gene editing. The emails show his plans to use a New Mexico ranch to “seed” children with his DNA and his interest in funding a “designer-baby project.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/05/jeffrey-epstein-eugenics-obsession-human-race-dna/
A new documentary explains how the idea of “artificial intelligence,” which started out as an empty marketing term, relies on an understanding of “general intelligence,” which is bound up in the eugenics movement.
msmagazine.com/2026/02/12/s...
Taiwan restricts IVF and other ARTs to married heterosexual couples, which leaves lesbian couples who want to have biological children without access. In response, a growing number of Taiwanese lesbian women are seeking IVF abroad.
taiwaninsight.org/2026/02/06/t...
The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority found that a fertility clinic’s Facebook ads violated UK regulations by emphasizing compensation for donation and minimizing the physical and emotional impacts of the decision to donate eggs.
However, because the use of legal gender in the amendment would still exclude some trans men, LGBTQIA+ groups are advocating for changes to the draft amendments.
Draft amendments to Taiwan’s Assisted Reproduction Act would expand access to IVF to unmarried women and same-sex couples whose legal gender is female. 1/2
Marketing for new genetic tests claims that polygenic risk scores can predict which IVF embryo will grow into the tallest, smartest or healthiest child. The tests both fail to deliver on their promises and advance dehumanizing eugenic ideas about whose lives have value.
Members of the New Mexico Legislature’s House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee are advancing a proposal to comprehensively study the scope and impact of forced sterilization of Indigenous women and women of color in the state.
Taiwan’s state subsidies of assisted reproductive technologies have contributed to an increasing percentage of ART-conceived babies. The shift demonstrates that government embrace (or rejection) of pronatalist policies helps shape technology use in reproduction.
The Danish research group at the center of the controversial US government-funded Hepatitis B study in Guinea-Bissau has been accused of questionable research practices in several past studies.
www.science.org/cont...
Medical care in the early 20th century U.S. was entangled with the eugenics movement. Its biases still linger in health care, hospital structures, and medical education. Grappling with this history and addressing legacies of eugenics can help prevent continued harms.
