Dream McClinton from The Guardian writes about a new Netflix docuseries, called Unnatural Selection, that “explores the various forms of genetic engineering, as well as the societal and environmental implications of its research and use.” An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from the report: Today, we are learning the language in which God created life,” said then-president Bill Clinton, alongside the…
Tag: Genetic Engineering
CRISPR Now Cuts and Splices Whole Chromosomes
Researchers report they’ve adapted CRISPR and combined it with other tools to cut and splice large genome fragments with ease. The study, conducted by researchers at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, U.K., has been published in this week’s issue of Science. Science Magazine reports: The tried and true tools of genetic engineering simply can’t handle…
Leaked Documents Reveal Saudi Arabia’s Plans For Its Next Megacity
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: A new report from The Wall Street Journal shares some of the proposals for Saudi Arabia’s biggest megaproject yet: a city built in the desert named Neom, where robots will outnumber humans and hologram teachers will educate genetically-enhanced students. These are only proposals, of course, dreamt up by American consulting firms like…
NYT ‘Op Eds From the Future’ Launch With Sci-Fi Writer Ted Chiang
Slashdot reader Lasrick tipped us off to the first installment in a new series at the New York Times called “Op-Eds From the Future.” Science fiction authors, futurists, philosophers and scientists write op-eds that they imagine we might read 10, 20 or even 100 years in the future. The challenges they predict are imaginary — for now — but their arguments…
The Government Is Serious About Creating Mind-Controlled Weapons
DARPA hopes to invent ways to instantly read soldiers’ minds using tools like genetic engineering of the human brain, nanotechnology and infrared beams. Source: https://www.livescience.com/65546-darpa-mind-controlled-weapons.html
Stanford Clears Professor of Helping With Gene-Edited Babies Experiment
Stephen Quake and two colleagues were found to have followed proper scientific protocol in their interactions with the Chinese researcher who did the work. Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/16/health/stanford-gene-editing-babies.html?partner=rss&emc=rss…
Gene-Edited Babies: What a Chinese Scientist Told an American Mentor
Stanford is investigating Stephen Quake’s interactions with He Jiankui, the scientist who performed the controversial experiment. Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/14/health/gene-editing-babies.html?partner=rss&emc=rss…
Introducing the World’s First Gene-Edited Lizard
Scientists weren’t expecting him to look like this. Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/05/us/crispr-albino-lizard.html?partner=rss&emc=rss