a crack in creation the new power to control evolution

The quest for a cure A new defense Cracking the code Command and control - Part II: The task. Gene editing and the unthinkable power to control evolution What will we do with this unfathomable power?'įull Bibliographic Record Publication information:īoston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017. With CRISPR, she shows, we have effectively taken control of evolution. Writing with fellow researcher Sam Sternberg, Doudna shares the thrilling story of her discovery, and passionately argues that the ability to rewrite the code of life comes with enormous responsibility.

Yet even the tiniest changes to DNA could have myriad, unforeseeable consequences-to say nothing of the ethical and societal repercussions of intentionally mutating embryos to create 'better' humans. The cheapest, simplest, most effective way of manipulating DNA ever known, CRISPR may well give us the cure to HIV, genetic diseases, and some cancers, and will help address the world's hunger crisis. Not, that is, until the spring of 2015, when biologist Jennifer Doudna called for a worldwide moratorium on the use of the new gene-editing tool CRISPR-a revolutionary technology that she helped create-to make heritable changes in human embryos. Not since the atomic bomb has a technology so alarmed its inventors that they warned the world about its use. This book is an essential guide to the path that now lies ahead.'A trailblazing biologist grapples with her role in the biggest scientific discovery of our era a cheap, easy way of rewriting genetic code, with nearly limitless promise and peril. The future of humankind – and of all life on Earth – is at stake. She also asks us to consider what our new-found power means: how do we enjoy its unprecedented benefits while avoiding its equally unprecedented dangers? Writing with fellow researcher Samuel Sternberg, here she provides the definitive account of her discovery, explaining how this wondrous invention works and what it is capable of.

Jennifer Doudna is the co-inventor of this technology – known as CRISPR – and a scientist of worldwide renown. Thanks to it, the dreams of genetic manipulation have become a stark reality: the power to cure disease and alleviate suffering, to create new sources of food and energy, as well as to re-design any species, including humans, for our own ends. It is an invention that allows us to rewrite the genetic code that shapes and controls all living beings with astonishing accuracy and ease.

This book is about the most recent and potentially the most powerful and dangerous of them all. Jennifer Doudna, the world-famous scientist behind CRISPR, ‘one of the most monumental discoveries in biology’ ( New York Times), explains its discovery, describes its power to reshape the future of all life and warns of its use.Ī handful of discoveries have changed the course of human history.

A crack in creation the new power to control evolution