We’re on the cusp of a gene editing revolution, are we ready?
By Editorial,
New Scientist
| 07. 27. 2016
THERE’S a certain breed of techno-optimist who likes to talk about “the singularity” – a time when technology progresses so rapidly that life is transformed beyond recognition. The driving force of this hypothetical event is artificial intelligence, but biotech plays a key role too.
...
But there are dangers ahead – not least the science outpacing public consent. Two teams in China have already tried to engineer human embryos. That seems unnecessarily hasty given the ethical issues it raises.
Those who work on CRISPR have a duty to consider not just the science but also how it will be received. As yet, CRISPR has hardly registered in public debate.
Image via Pixabay
Related Articles
By Emma McDonald Kennedy
| 09.25.2025
In the leadup to the 2024 election, Donald Trump repeatedly promised to make IVF more accessible. He made the commitment central to his campaign, even referring to himself as the “father of IVF.” In his first month in office, Trump issued an executive order promising to expand IVF access. The order set a 90-day deadline for policy recommendations for “lowering costs and reducing barriers to IVF,” although it didn’t make any substantive reproductive healthcare policy changes.
The response to the...
By Jacob Bogage, The Washington Post | 09.03.2025
The conservative group behind the Project 2025 governing playbook for President Donald Trump’s second term is set to propose sweeping revisions to U.S. economic policy meant to encourage married heterosexual couples to have more children.
The Heritage Foundation, a right-wing...
By Caroline Kitchener, The New York Times | 08.21.2025
Less than two weeks after an Alabama Supreme Court decision upended in vitro fertilization in the state and prompted a national backlash, over 100 conservative congressional staff members and I.V.F. skeptics crammed into a meeting room a few blocks from...
By Carter Sherman, The Guardian | 08.23.2025
For Erica L and her husband, in-vitro fertilization was the “nuclear option”.
After two years of trying to conceive, Erica and her husband had no idea why they could not have a baby. Doctors said only that they had “unexplained...