Who’s to Blame for Human Genome Editing? (….and other questions that don’t need answering but need thinking about)

With nearly two months elapsed since the world first learned of the existence of CRISPR-edited newborns living in China, it is worth pondering the response this momentous event generated. When considering what people have said about Chinese scientist He Jiankui’s exploits, a disconcerting feature emerges. The ethics of the scientist himself have been front and …

To Rise From the Dead

“Extinction,” as they say, “is forever.”  It is the threat that has launched a thousand environmental campaigns. Despite being the ultimate fate of all species, extinction remains universally appalling in its finality. The thought of extinction serves as a chilling reference point for almost all conservation thinking. Technologies being developed in the emerging Plastocene epoch …