How Gene Editing Could Ruin Human Evolution

Aggregated News

http://time.com/4626571/crispr-gene-modification-evolution/

Silhouette of a baby. The baby's back is turned away from the camera, facing a window with sunlight. A rubber duck and several other toys are placed on the baby's side.

CRISPR snips away risky genes—but even the bad have good in them

In the 1960s, Thomas Kuhn suggested that scientific ideas undergo fits of revolution, challenging the foundation of establishment science. But it was Peter Galison who emphasized the impact of a tool or method, and encouraged the notion that technology creates the tangible breach or disruption of a field. Alfred Hersey, in a similar spirit, once told a colleague, “ideas come and go, but a method lasts.”

CRISPR-Cas9, the new gene modification tool, which has been heralded as a means for inserting ourselves into evolution, is itself evolving as a technology, even as you read this. That technology itself can evolve means there is greater urgency for how we think of our biology: either as a machine (which can break down and get new spare parts) or as part of ecology (whereby breakdown is not necessarily bad and can be part of growth, renewal or reorganization). CRISPR may be used to repair a gene that has a deficient product, such as an enzyme or receptor...

Human Genetic Modification

Genomics

U.S. Federal

A "Post-Human" Future?

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Aggregated News

Een rijtje gespreide vulva’s gaapt de bezoeker aan. Zó ziet een bevalling eruit, en zó een baarmoeder met foetus. Een zwangerschap, maar dan zonder zwangere vrouw, gestript van zorgen, gêne en pijn. De zwangerschapsmodellen en oefenbekkens, te zien in de...

Human Genetic Modification

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Aggregated News

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Genetic Selection

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Aggregated News

It has been seven years since Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui made an announcement that shocked the world's scientists.

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Through rewriting DNA in twin girls' embryos, the man who would later be dubbed...

Genetic Selection

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Aggregated News

After declaring bankruptcy in March 2025, direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing company 23andMe sold the data of more than 15 million people around the world to TTAM Research Institute, a nonprofit organization created by 23andMe’s founder and long-time CEO. 23andMe’s customers...

Human Genetic Modification

How Gene Editing Could Ruin Human Evolution

Perspectives

CRISPR snips away risky genes—but even the bad have good in them

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