Uploaded May 2018 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Not since the atomic bomb has a technology so alarmed its inventors that they warned the world against its use. Not, that is, until the spring of 2015, when the University of California, Berkeley biologist Jennifer Doudna called for a worldwide moratorium on the use of the new gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9, a technology she developed to rewrite genetic code in human embryos. 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 help address the world’s hunger crisis. In this opening session of the 10th World Conference of Science Journalists, Doudna shared her pioneering work with science journalists and answered their questions about the implications and issues raised by science's new ability to rewrite the code of life.
Not since the atomic bomb has a technology so alarmed its inventors that they warned the world against its use. Not, that is, until the spring of 2015, when the University of California, Berkeley biologist Jennifer Doudna called for a worldwide moratorium on the use of the new gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9, a technology she developed to rewrite genetic code in human embryos. 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 help address the world’s hunger crisis. In this opening session of the 10th World Conference of Science Journalists, Doudna shared her pioneering work with science journalists and answered their questions about the implications and issues raised by science's new ability to rewrite the code of life.
