Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Scientists thought they could make hamsters more cooperative by editing out a gene … But just the opposite happened. Both male and female hamsters with the altered gene became more aggressive—much more aggressive.
Sometimes a headline gives you practically the entire story. Take this one: “Gene-Editing Unintentionally Adds Bovine DNA, Goat DNA, and Bacterial DNA, Mouse Researchers Find.”
Europe’s precautionary principle is being challenged in the name of innovation. What might at first seem like a battle of words could, however, have profound impacts on the future of food and farming in the UK, across Europe and beyond.
CRISPR, the latest fad in genetic engineering, is touted as both safer and more versatile than previous techniques. But those touting it are making the same demonstrably false assumption that people using the old techniques made.
Very few technologies truly merit the epithet “game changer” — but a new genetic engineering tool known as CRISPR-Cas9 is one of them.
Enhancing nature’s time-tested processes or Engineering… the difference between this phrase and word is a clear line in the sand that divides many millennia of human efforts to breed plants and animals, and the contemporary field of genetic modification.
