A maverick researcher claims to have created GM children
His stated aim is to protect them from AIDS
THE SECOND International Summit on Human Genome Editing, held in Hong Kong this week, was supposed to be a forum in which the idea of editing the genomes of human embryos could be discussed calmly and soberly. Fat chance of that. On November 26th, the day before it opened, one of the scheduled speakers, He Jiankui, an expert in DNA sequencing at the Southern University of Science and Technology, in Shenzhen, announced that he had already done it, and that twin girls, named Lulu and Nana, had been born in early October as a result.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “A moment for reflection”
Science & technology December 1st 2018
- A maverick researcher claims to have created GM children
- A probe lands on Mars
- A species of spider that suckles its young
- A novel way to stop the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria
- A vast study seeks to understand the genetic underpinnings of ADHD
- Experience of phantom limbs lets amputees control real replacements
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