Those interested in reflecting on the “ethical risks” of the 3rd and 4th industrial / technological revolutions (and there are many such people, “experts” or not) should go ahead: it …
DIYbio: self-improvement in the 21st century
One would assume that biohackers are a marginal cosmopolitan phenomenon, some “geeks” here and there. Indeed, numerically speaking, biohackers may be few in number, for now. Ideologically, however, biohacking indicates …
The scientific epic
Anyone who thinks (or will come to think in the future) that the innovative recipe for genetic editing called Crispr/Cas-9 (see Cyborg 8: genetic cut-and-sew) is a pure product of …
DNA sequencer
It may look like a large photocopier, but it’s not. According to its specifications, Illumina’s HiSeq X machine can produce the complete sequence of 16 human genomes in every 3-day …
precision medicine: the personalization of medicine
The term “precision medicine” is relatively new and was mainly highlighted after 2011 thanks to a report by the U.S. national research council, which focused on the need for a …
3D printers
The generations that grew up in the 20th century were trained to use specific symbolic representations in encoding the world. Among these, the images of “construction” and “building” had a …
genetic cut-and-paste: the great deception
Think of a cinematic film. You identify a specific sequence of frames that you want to replace. If you have a film reel, you go and cut the celluloid, and …
genetic predisposition; no, thank you!
Are we our genes? A large part of the so-called “scientific community” continues to support this view, albeit using statistical tricks. DNA is our “book of life,” written with just …
Ephemeral genes
It is one of those scientific procedures that (with our limited minds) we would hardly consider truly “scientific”: first (some claim) they found the genes for A or B, and …
genetic / cybernetic: a white wedding
“The genetic code is the set of rules by which information stored in the genetic material of living cells (DNA or RNA sequences) is translated into proteins (amino acid sequences).” …
eterna
Some extol the “intellectual” capabilities of machines, others make sure to harvest the crowd-intellectual capabilities. Or, more accurately, collective human intelligence; they can call it that (for now) without risk. …
nanotechnologies: some known unknowns…
The results of the research published online on May 6 in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C could constitute a major issue for broader disclosure: the characterization as a “public …