Altering A Species: Darwin's Shopping List
Few scientific discoveries have caused as much excitement as that of editing our genes; yet we owe some of the most stunning wonders around us to old-fashioned breeding practices, says Jimena Canales.
By genetically modifying organisms, we can now create glow-in-the-dark cats and fish, mice with singing voices, less flatulent cows, carbon-capturing plants, humanized cow milk, and even trademark pigs that poop environmentally-friendly feces.
Scientists are hard at work trying to grow human organs in labs and are even considering altering cattle's genome so that they feel less or no pain.
CRISPER/Cas9-based methods can target the genome of living cells, and new CAR-T gene therapies for treating cancer have opened up entirely new horizons in medicine.
If you could make anything, what would you create?
Few scientific discoveries have caused as much excitement and fear as that of editing
