I’ll be on Talking Biopolitics live tomorrow to discuss my new book, GMO Sapiens. You can RSVP at that link. You can get the Kindle version of the book here or the soft or cover versions at the publisher site here. Nathaniel Comfort will be interviewing me on the book and we’ll also be taking …
Join discussion of my new book GMO Sapiens on Talking Biopolitics tomorrow Read More »
I try to catch up on my science reading over the weekends and evenings. Here’s my recommended weekend reading on stem cells & science. Did I miss anything especially cool? Let me know in the comments. Direct reprogramming of skin cells into insulin-producing cells. I love direct reprogramming. Healios and Athersys Enter Into Regenerative Medicine Partnership. …
Recommended weekend reading on stem cells & science Read More »
The New York Times recently asked 6 people what sci-fi movie or novel is most prescient today; in my view it’s GATTACA. The responses ran the gamut: Fahrenheit 451, The Martian, The Fifth Season, The Body Snatchers, Book of the New Sun, and Use of Weapons. To me of those 6, the best case can …
NYT asks which sci-fi work is most prescient today: I think GATTACA Read More »
What were the top 10 stem cell stories of the year? What were the biggest news and science headlines in the stem cell field in 2015, whether good or bad? Below are mine. What are your top 10 stem cell stories of the past year? Let us know in the comments. Organoids explode. Stem cell-based …
What’s it like to give a TED talk and could there be designer babies in your future as a parent? On Halloween I gave a TEDxVienna talk (click above) on giving consideration to the possibility that we may be headed toward a new reality in the next 15 years in which there are designer babies. …
What if I could make designer babies for you? My TED talk Read More »
I just got back from a historic summit on human genetic modification in Washington, D.C. New genetic modification technology, termed CRISPR-Cas9, has both made genetic modification a relatively simple matter for scientists and human genetic modification much more likely in the near future. Heritable human genetic modification could prevent some rare genetic diseases so there …
The Summit on Human Gene Editing got off to a great start yesterday. I have four posts summarizing all the talks and my impressions on the points made (here, here, here, and here). What was the overall gestalt including from talking to people informally? What were the big takeaway messages so far from Day 1? Diverse views. …
Human Gene Editing takeaways from day 1 of #GeneEditSummit Read More »
This is post #4 of my live blogging of the #GeneEditSummit today. It is focused on societal implications so I’m really looking forward to it. You can read posts 1-3, here, here, and here summarizing the talks and key points from the meeting so far. Annelien L. Bredenoord, University Medical Center Utrecht, chaired the session. John Harris, …
Live Blogging #GeneEditSummit Day 1 Post #4: Societal Implications of human gene editing Read More »
The post-lunch session is “Applications of Gene Editing Technology: Human Germline Modification”. Prior to hearing it I’m curious how cautious or gung-ho the speakers will be, or if their gestalt will be one of balance in the middle somewhere. Robin Lovell-Badge, The Francis Crick Institute, was the moderator of this session. He said, “We’d be …
Live Blogging #GeneEditSummit Day 1 Post #3: human germline modification Read More »
This is blog post #1 from Day 1 of the National Academy of Sciences meeting on Human Gene editing. Some of the post may be written on the fly given the quick timeline of the meeting. Updates will sometimes be added to existing posts. See the subsequent three posts on the rest of the day here, …
Live Blog #GeneEditSummit Day 1 Post 1: Context & Science Read More »