Editing human embryos is restricted in much of the world—and making an edited baby is fully illegal in most countries surveyed by legal scholars. But advancing technology could render the embryo issue moot.
New ways of adding CRISPR, the revolutionary gene editing tool, to the bodies of people already born could let them easily receive changes as well. It’s possible that in 125 years, many people will be the beneficiaries of multiple rare, but useful, gene mutations currently found in only small segments of the population. These could protect us against common diseases and infections, but eventually they could also yield improvements in other traits, such as height, metabolism, or even cognition.
But humanity won’t necessarily do things the right way. Some groups will probably obtain the health benefits before others, and commercial interests could eventually take the trend in unhelpful directions.Read the full story.
—Antonio Regalado
This piece is from the forthcoming print issue of MIT Technology Review, which is celebrating 125 years of the magazine! It’s set to go live on Wednesday August 28, so if you don’t already, subscribe now to get a copy when it lands.
A new system lets robots sense human touch without artificial skin
The news: Even the most capable robots aren’t great at sensing human touch. But that may change, thanks to robots that can now sense and interpret touch without being covered in high-tech artificial skin. It’s a significant step toward robots that can interact more intuitively with humans.
