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    Hacking the Code of Life: How gene editing will rewrite our futures
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    Hacking the Code of Life: How gene editing will rewrite our futures
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    Hacking the Code of Life: How gene editing will rewrite our futures
    Ebook194 pages3 hours

    Hacking the Code of Life: How gene editing will rewrite our futures

    By Nessa Carey

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    'An excellent, brisk guide to what is likely to happen as opposed to the fantastically remote.' - Los Angeles Review of Books

    In 2018 the world woke up to gene editing with a storm of controversy over twin girls born in China with genetic changes deliberately introduced by scientists - changes they will pass on to their own offspring.

    Genetic modification (GM) has been with us for 45 years now, but the new system known as CRISPR or gene editing can manipulate the genes of almost any organism with a degree of precision, ease and speed that we could only dream of ten years ago.

    But is it ethical to change the genetic material of organisms in a way that might be passed on to future generations? If a person is suffering from a lethal genetic disease, is it unethical to deny them this option? Who controls the application of this technology, when it makes 'biohacking' - perhaps of one's own genome - a real possibility?

    Nessa Carey's book is a thrilling and timely snapshot of a cutting-edge technology that will radically alter our futures and the way we prevent disease.

    'A focused snapshot of a brave new world.' - Nature

    'A brisk, accessible primer on the fast-moving field, a clear-eyed look at a technology that is already driving major scientific advances - and raising complex ethical questions.' - Emily Anthes, Undark

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherIcon Books
    Release dateMar 7, 2019
    ISBN9781785784989
    Author

    Nessa Carey

    Nessa Carey worked in the biotech and pharma industry for thirteen years and is a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London. Her previous books for Icon are The Epigenetics Revolution (2011), described by The Guardian as ‘a book that would have had Darwin swooning’, and Junk DNA (2015), ‘a cutting-edge guide to the ever-more mysterious genome’ (New Scientist).

    Read more from Nessa Carey

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    • 4/5
      Definitely an informative book. Brings everyone up to date (as much as is possible in a fast moving field such as this can be done in a published book). The author shoots straight on a variety of topics within the field of genetic editing. Includes many examples in an assortment of areas such as plant life, insects, reptiles, mammals and of course humans - where DNA editing has already been successfully used. Sometimes with good and sometimes with not so good results. A must read for those of us who are interested in this field but can't or don't want to wade through all the technical jargon in Cell. The future of DNA editing is exciting and somewhat alarming but I'm sure Carey will keep us all posted on a regular basis.