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comment by gee
gee  ·  3459 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: CRISPR - The future of genetic engineering (and maybe us too?) - podcast (~30 min)

I listened to this the other day as well (I highly suggest the "NPR one" app on your phone -- it has been great for long trips and easy access to NPR content)

So the guys at Radiolab were pretty sensational on the podcast in my opinion... However, it was very informative. I can not believe they didn't bring up the movie GATTACA (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/) as this technology holds the potential to bring that movie to life -- (also, gattaca is spelled using only g,a,t and c -- the same letters we abbreviate for nucleotides to describe dna sequences!).

I dont really see what would be wrong with bringing back, say, a wooly mammoth... but to do that gradually with 1 or 2 gene changes at a time? woah thats a complicated task. Getting each cell to uptake the code change? Suppressing the immune system... which genes go first? Im not saying its impossible but I find it hard to believe the time scale they eluded to science being able to do it.

Both ethically and science wise, I think we are still a long way away from actually being able to use it to benefit humans. BUT woah, the technology to potentially end unneeded suffering from genetic diseases! I think we should embrace rather than fear the tech! Think of the long term health care savings! Think about curing a cancer like breast cancer that is often attributed to genetics! Im excited.





nothingleftinside  ·  3459 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yeah, I think they were being a little sensational as well. This clearly can't create new species or put us in a Jurassic Park situation. This seems to be the beginning of a short series, so I'm interested in what else they're going to say about this field.