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Right now, for just $140, you can get your hands on one of the most powerful gene-editing tools known to science. You don’t even have to go out of your way, either. The ODIN do-it-yourself CRISPR kit, as it’s called, will ship it to your front door.
The project is the brainchild of ex-NASA scientist Josiah Zayner, who left the agency earlier this year to sell CRISPR kits from his Castro Valley, California apartment. After raising nearly $71,500 on Indiegogo, he turned to the ODIN full time.
Zayner is one of an international community of biohackers who want to democratize science. Biology and the body are their playgrounds. They ask why experiments should be restricted to academic institutions and why sluggish processes of federal approval should stall scientific discoveries. Thanks to many biohackers, technologies that were once locked in the ivory tower are now available to practically anyone.
But many experts think Zayner’s efforts are careless and even dangerous. They worry about handing such powerful tools to a largely unregulated community of DIY scientists who lack the rigor and oversight of those at established institutions. They’re concerned that...