Aggregated News
On Friday, scientists and policymakers meet in a Paris summit to grapple over the ethics and science of a powerful new medical tool. It's called CRISPR, and, in the simplest terms, it helps researchers (and, someday, will help doctors) edit human beings. With CRISPR, researchers can invade a person's DNA, snip out the bad bits and replace or repair what's left.
CRISPR carries immense potential and, possibly, peril.
The potential: For some people born with debilitating genetic diseases, scientists could give them relief from their symptoms — and maybe even cure them in the not-too-distant future.
The peril: Scientists could also make permanent changes in the human germ line, the genes that parents pass on to their children. As those edited genes are passed from one generation to the next, the human race could be changed in ways that are not yet predictable. Or desirable.
How does it work? Again, in simple terms: CRISPR is a one-two punch of genetic materials that, once injected into a body, act as a team. One molecule guides the team to a...