Antonio Regalado
@antonioregalado.bsky.social
Journalist covering biotechnology for MIT Technology Review. Scoops about new methods in genetics and cell biology. The "playing God" beat. Gene editing, gene therapy, ancient DNA, synthetic embryos, cloning, etc.
A month after Bari Weiss hired to lead CBS News division, heretic eugenics philosopher Jonathan Anomaly is on the morning show pitching bell curves and embryo scores.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvVM...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvVM...
November 10, 2025 at 2:27 PM
A month after Bari Weiss hired to lead CBS News division, heretic eugenics philosopher Jonathan Anomaly is on the morning show pitching bell curves and embryo scores.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvVM...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvVM...
Reposted by Antonio Regalado
I tremendously enjoyed Matthew Cobb’s definitive new biography of Crick. It was hard to put down and provides many new perspectives. My review of it will appear in Science later this week.
November 10, 2025 at 1:45 PM
I tremendously enjoyed Matthew Cobb’s definitive new biography of Crick. It was hard to put down and provides many new perspectives. My review of it will appear in Science later this week.
Reposted by Antonio Regalado
A 3rd (?) germline editing co announced @antonioregalado.bsky.social in @technologyreview.com, www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/31/1...
I mainly share Fyodor's reaction, quoted in story—"In his email, Urnov said the launch of still another venture into the area made him want to “howl with pain.”
I mainly share Fyodor's reaction, quoted in story—"In his email, Urnov said the launch of still another venture into the area made him want to “howl with pain.”
Here’s the latest company planning for gene-edited babies
Entrepreneurs say it’s time to safety-test designer baby technology.
www.technologyreview.com
November 4, 2025 at 6:44 PM
A 3rd (?) germline editing co announced @antonioregalado.bsky.social in @technologyreview.com, www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/31/1...
I mainly share Fyodor's reaction, quoted in story—"In his email, Urnov said the launch of still another venture into the area made him want to “howl with pain.”
I mainly share Fyodor's reaction, quoted in story—"In his email, Urnov said the launch of still another venture into the area made him want to “howl with pain.”
Reposted by Antonio Regalado
The astonishing science of synthetic embryology and our profile of it's most ambitious praticioner, Jacob Hanna
www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/21/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/21/1...
The astonishing embryo models of Jacob Hanna
Scientists are creating the beginnings of bodies without sperm or eggs. How far should they be allowed to go?
www.technologyreview.com
October 21, 2025 at 6:06 PM
The astonishing science of synthetic embryology and our profile of it's most ambitious praticioner, Jacob Hanna
www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/21/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/21/1...
Read this item by TB researcher whose grant got cancelled as 'dangerous gain of function.'
Ironic, because the administration (RFK), has promoted whole‑virus vaccines, whose development, especially if they are attenuated, probably relies on very similar techniques.
Ironic, because the administration (RFK), has promoted whole‑virus vaccines, whose development, especially if they are attenuated, probably relies on very similar techniques.
October 6, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Read this item by TB researcher whose grant got cancelled as 'dangerous gain of function.'
Ironic, because the administration (RFK), has promoted whole‑virus vaccines, whose development, especially if they are attenuated, probably relies on very similar techniques.
Ironic, because the administration (RFK), has promoted whole‑virus vaccines, whose development, especially if they are attenuated, probably relies on very similar techniques.
Here come the first "generative" genomes. Folks at the Arc Institute used an AI trained on DNA sequence to propose code for novel bacteriophage genomes.
Of the 302 they synthesized, 16 actually worked--replicating and killing E. Coli.
www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/17/1...
Of the 302 they synthesized, 16 actually worked--replicating and killing E. Coli.
www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/17/1...
AI-designed viruses are here and already killing bacteria
Can AI create a life form? These “generative” genomes are a start
www.technologyreview.com
September 17, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Here come the first "generative" genomes. Folks at the Arc Institute used an AI trained on DNA sequence to propose code for novel bacteriophage genomes.
Of the 302 they synthesized, 16 actually worked--replicating and killing E. Coli.
www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/17/1...
Of the 302 they synthesized, 16 actually worked--replicating and killing E. Coli.
www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/17/1...
Reposted by Antonio Regalado
Can AI create a life form? These "generative" genomes are a start. New from @antonioregalado.bsky.social
www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/17/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/17/1...
AI-designed viruses are here and already killing bacteria
Can AI create a life form? These "generative" genomes are a start
www.technologyreview.com
September 17, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Can AI create a life form? These "generative" genomes are a start. New from @antonioregalado.bsky.social
www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/17/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/17/1...
Reposted by Antonio Regalado
Can anyone find a Berman MF et al. Neurotoxicology 2008; 29(5), 914–922 ?
This is a fake citation.
www.sciencedirect.com/journal/neur...
This is a fake citation.
www.sciencedirect.com/journal/neur...
www.sciencedirect.com
June 24, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Can anyone find a Berman MF et al. Neurotoxicology 2008; 29(5), 914–922 ?
This is a fake citation.
www.sciencedirect.com/journal/neur...
This is a fake citation.
www.sciencedirect.com/journal/neur...
World famous synthetic embryo scientist stopped while entering U.S.
Agent: Any embryos in your luggage?
Scientist: One sec.
[Opens guideline booklet of the International Society for Stem Cell Research.]
Scientist: Nope, just 3-D structures derived from pluripotent stem cells.
Agent: Any embryos in your luggage?
Scientist: One sec.
[Opens guideline booklet of the International Society for Stem Cell Research.]
Scientist: Nope, just 3-D structures derived from pluripotent stem cells.
June 6, 2025 at 3:38 PM
World famous synthetic embryo scientist stopped while entering U.S.
Agent: Any embryos in your luggage?
Scientist: One sec.
[Opens guideline booklet of the International Society for Stem Cell Research.]
Scientist: Nope, just 3-D structures derived from pluripotent stem cells.
Agent: Any embryos in your luggage?
Scientist: One sec.
[Opens guideline booklet of the International Society for Stem Cell Research.]
Scientist: Nope, just 3-D structures derived from pluripotent stem cells.
Coinbase CEO, net worth ~$10B, wants to start definitive embryo editing company in the US.
Making a gene-edit baby is prohibited in most of the world.
But the winds can change.
www.technologyreview.com/2025/06/05/1...
Making a gene-edit baby is prohibited in most of the world.
But the winds can change.
www.technologyreview.com/2025/06/05/1...
Crypto billionaire Brian Armstrong is ready to invest in CRISPR baby tech
The stigmatized idea could get a massive boost from “tech bros”—and some scientists are cheering them on.
www.technologyreview.com
June 5, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Coinbase CEO, net worth ~$10B, wants to start definitive embryo editing company in the US.
Making a gene-edit baby is prohibited in most of the world.
But the winds can change.
www.technologyreview.com/2025/06/05/1...
Making a gene-edit baby is prohibited in most of the world.
But the winds can change.
www.technologyreview.com/2025/06/05/1...
OMG. Government "Make America Healthy Again" report has references to non-existent papers, suggesting US medical policy is partly plagiarized AI slop.
Calling on author, NIH director @drjbhattacharya.bsky.social to issue correction + investigate AI plagiarism
www.notus.org/health-scien...
Calling on author, NIH director @drjbhattacharya.bsky.social to issue correction + investigate AI plagiarism
www.notus.org/health-scien...
The MAHA Report Cites Studies That Don’t Exist
The Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” report misinterprets some studies and cites others that don’t exist, according to the listed authors.
www.notus.org
May 29, 2025 at 4:01 PM
OMG. Government "Make America Healthy Again" report has references to non-existent papers, suggesting US medical policy is partly plagiarized AI slop.
Calling on author, NIH director @drjbhattacharya.bsky.social to issue correction + investigate AI plagiarism
www.notus.org/health-scien...
Calling on author, NIH director @drjbhattacharya.bsky.social to issue correction + investigate AI plagiarism
www.notus.org/health-scien...
Japanese company to remove anachronisms from corporate names. What other companies have anachronisms in their names or logos?
About 70 years after people stopped using the telegraph, a Japanese company is removing the word from its name. Also getting rid of “Telephone.” group.ntt/en/newsrelea...
group.ntt
May 27, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Japanese company to remove anachronisms from corporate names. What other companies have anachronisms in their names or logos?
Reposted by Antonio Regalado
Northwestern has not received any NIH funds since March. No written communication about why or what can be done. Thank you Ben Singer for raising awareness at #ATS2025
May 18, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Northwestern has not received any NIH funds since March. No written communication about why or what can be done. Thank you Ben Singer for raising awareness at #ATS2025
Patient was posting from a Musk implant, with the help of Musk's AI, on a Musk media platform and in reply to a Musk fanboy, if not actually the “alt” of the richest person in the world. So it’s fair to ask: Where does patient end and Musk’s ecosystem begin?
www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/07/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/07/1...
May 7, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Patient was posting from a Musk implant, with the help of Musk's AI, on a Musk media platform and in reply to a Musk fanboy, if not actually the “alt” of the richest person in the world. So it’s fair to ask: Where does patient end and Musk’s ecosystem begin?
www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/07/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/07/1...
This is pig. I mean big. FDA approves gene-edited pig resistant to common swine virus. more 👇https://www.pig-world.co.uk/news/pic-receives-us-approval-for-gene-edited-prrs-resistant-pigs.html
May 1, 2025 at 3:53 AM
This is pig. I mean big. FDA approves gene-edited pig resistant to common swine virus. more 👇https://www.pig-world.co.uk/news/pic-receives-us-approval-for-gene-edited-prrs-resistant-pigs.html
Let biotechnology bring forth mammoths™ and birds™ and beasts™ of every kind. And it was so.
April 16, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Let biotechnology bring forth mammoths™ and birds™ and beasts™ of every kind. And it was so.
Colossal Biosciences is trying to win patents on the "Woolly mammoth" and the "dire wolf."
www.technologyreview.com/2025/04/16/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2025/04/16/1...
Jurassic Patent: How Colossal Biosciences is attempting to own the “woolly mammoth”
The company claiming it can restore lost species also wants to patent them.
www.technologyreview.com
April 16, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Colossal Biosciences is trying to win patents on the "Woolly mammoth" and the "dire wolf."
www.technologyreview.com/2025/04/16/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2025/04/16/1...
Reposted by Antonio Regalado
Dream on. As Antonio knows, head transplants were done decades in dogs & monkeys but sad failures. And Sergio Canavero kept promising human ones "by the end of the year" (For a decade?)
Anyway (the great) Lois McMaster Bujold (winner of FOUR best novel Hugos) got there decades ago.
Anyway (the great) Lois McMaster Bujold (winner of FOUR best novel Hugos) got there decades ago.
12/ The authors of today's bodyoid editorial in MIT Technology Review do not raise the prospect of radical life-extension, but headless clones are of interest to the "immortality community."
They dream of head transplants onto younger bodies.
www.technologyreview.com/2024/05/23/1...
They dream of head transplants onto younger bodies.
www.technologyreview.com/2024/05/23/1...
That viral video showing a head transplant is a fake. But it might be real someday.
BrainBridge is best understood as the first public billboard for a hugely controversial scheme to defeat death.
www.technologyreview.com
March 26, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Dream on. As Antonio knows, head transplants were done decades in dogs & monkeys but sad failures. And Sergio Canavero kept promising human ones "by the end of the year" (For a decade?)
Anyway (the great) Lois McMaster Bujold (winner of FOUR best novel Hugos) got there decades ago.
Anyway (the great) Lois McMaster Bujold (winner of FOUR best novel Hugos) got there decades ago.
Reposted by Antonio Regalado
This paper is the weirdest & most unsettling thing I've ever (co)written. & HUGE science questions—not just ectogenesis, but could a "brainless" animal survive? would it be a good model for a "real" animal? And ethics question, which are much bigger with humans. But I think it needs discussion.
17/ Back to Earth.
The authors propose bodyoid research should start now, with lab animals, like rodents.
But you can imagine farm animals too. How about a brainless chicken, or pig with minimal neural structure? Would such animals be more ethical to consume?
The authors propose bodyoid research should start now, with lab animals, like rodents.
But you can imagine farm animals too. How about a brainless chicken, or pig with minimal neural structure? Would such animals be more ethical to consume?
March 26, 2025 at 1:55 AM
This paper is the weirdest & most unsettling thing I've ever (co)written. & HUGE science questions—not just ectogenesis, but could a "brainless" animal survive? would it be a good model for a "real" animal? And ethics question, which are much bigger with humans. But I think it needs discussion.
Imagine human bodies grown without complete brains, without consciousness.
These are "bodyoids."
And today in MIT Technology Review, researchers from Stanford University are ready to talk about them.
www.technologyreview.com/2025/03/25/1...
These are "bodyoids."
And today in MIT Technology Review, researchers from Stanford University are ready to talk about them.
www.technologyreview.com/2025/03/25/1...
Ethically sourced “spare” human bodies could revolutionize medicine
Human “bodyoids” could reduce animal testing, improve drug development, and alleviate organ shortages.
www.technologyreview.com
March 25, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Imagine human bodies grown without complete brains, without consciousness.
These are "bodyoids."
And today in MIT Technology Review, researchers from Stanford University are ready to talk about them.
www.technologyreview.com/2025/03/25/1...
These are "bodyoids."
And today in MIT Technology Review, researchers from Stanford University are ready to talk about them.
www.technologyreview.com/2025/03/25/1...
Reposted by Antonio Regalado
Email sent to FDA staff informs that agency leadership canceled the agency's LexisNexis subscription, even though staff need this tool to research legal and regulatory information as part of their jobs.
I'm reproducing the text of the email here:
I'm reproducing the text of the email here:
March 19, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Email sent to FDA staff informs that agency leadership canceled the agency's LexisNexis subscription, even though staff need this tool to research legal and regulatory information as part of their jobs.
I'm reproducing the text of the email here:
I'm reproducing the text of the email here:
For $19.99, couldn't resist this addition to my biotech t-shirt collection.
March 19, 2025 at 7:45 PM
For $19.99, couldn't resist this addition to my biotech t-shirt collection.
Reposted by Antonio Regalado
We looked into the booming field of ancient DNA research, how it's telling stories from pre-history and how some of the old information is being teleported into the present and added to plants in a bid to defeat climate change.
www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/17/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/17/1...
Adventures in the genetic time machine
Ancient DNA is telling us more and more about humans and environments long past. Could it also help rescue the future?
www.technologyreview.com
February 18, 2025 at 4:28 PM
We looked into the booming field of ancient DNA research, how it's telling stories from pre-history and how some of the old information is being teleported into the present and added to plants in a bid to defeat climate change.
www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/17/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/17/1...