The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race

by Walter Isaacson

ribonucleic acid (RNA) and a similar molecule that lacks one oxygen atom and thus is called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).

CRISPR, for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats.”

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA),

Ingenuity without wisdom is dangerous.

Diversity is good not only for society but for our species. Like any species, our evolution and resilience are strengthened by a bit of randomness in the gene pool.

The COVID pandemic that killed more than 1.5 million people in 2020 will not be the final plague.

The invention of easily reprogrammable RNA vaccines was a lightning-fast triumph of human ingenuity, but it was based on decades of curiosity-driven research into one of the most fundamental aspects of life on planet earth: how genes encoded by DNA are transcribed into snippets of RNA that tell cells what proteins to assemble.

(Most deaths from COVID-19 came from organ inflammation due to unwanted immune-system responses.)

Most of us someday will have detection devices in our home that will allow us to check for viruses and many other conditions. We will also have wearables with nanopores and molecular transistors that can monitor all of our biological functions, and they will be networked so that they