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<p>We've heard a lot about genetic engineering over the past two decades - and, lately there's been even more hype about a new molecular tool called <a href="http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-removed-hiv-dna-from-human-immune-cells-using-new-gene-editing-technique">CRISPR</a>, which acts like a cut-and-paste tool for our DNA.</p>
<p>But what many of us don't realise is that, after years of talking about it, we're on the verge of a major change for society - one where we can edit genes as easily as we give medication today.</p>
<p>As the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhjPd4uNFY&feature=youtu.be">latest episode of Kurzgesagt</a> so brilliantly explains, just like no one in the '80s believed computers would ever take over everything, most of us today don't really think that genetic editing won't change everything.</p>
<p>And we're wrong, because of CRISPR.</p>
<p>So what exactly is CRISPR? After all, humans have been genetically engineering other species for millennia, by <a href="http://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-what-fruits-and-vegetables-looked-like-before-we-domesticated-them">breeding food</a> and <a href="http://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-what-popular-dog-breeds-looked-like-before-and-after-100-years-of-breeding">pets</a> to have more of the traits we like, and less of the traits we don't.</p>
<p>Once we discovered DNA, we've been figuring out ways to tinker with this process on the back end, too.</p>
<p>Fast forward a few years, and we have genetically engineered mice, genetically engineered humans, and, of course, genetically engineered food.</p>
<p>But while genetic engineering has played an important role in medicine, the existing techniques available up until now have been expensive, slow, and incredibly complicated. </p>
<p>Now, that's all changing. Thanks to CRISPR, the costs of genetic engineering have shrunk by 99 percent basically overnight, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhjPd4uNFY&feature=youtu.be">Kurzgesagt reports</a>.</p>
<p>Although we're now using CRISPR in humans and other animals, the system was originally found inside bacteria - where it's used as a genetic weapon to stop bacteria being infected by viruses (yes, even microbes get infected, too).</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhjPd4uNFY&feature=youtu.be">As the video above explains</a> much more beautifully than we can, after a virus has infected a bacteria once, the bacteria keeps a little portion of its DNA locked in a genetic archive called CRISPR.</p>
<p>If it ever gets infected again, this viral DNA is turned into RNA, and is fed into a secret weapon called Cas 9 - an enzyme that hunts down any DNA that matches the one in the archive, and then expertly cuts it out of the bacteria.</p>
<p>"It's almost like a DNA surgeon," <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhjPd4uNFY&feature=youtu.be">Kurzgesagt explains</a>.</p>
<p>So far, so good. But a few years ago, scientists discovered that the CRISPR system is actually programmable, which means that you can tell it any piece of DNA you want removed, put the system into a living cell, and it'll cut that DNA right out of the genome.</p>
<p>Researchers are already using CRISPR to <a href="http://www.sciencealert.com/crispr-gene-editing-tool-used-to-treat-genetic-disease-in-an-animal-for-the-first-time">treat disease</a> in animal models, and, <a href="http://www.sciencealert.com/china-s-about-to-alter-human-dna-using-a-revolutionary-tool-for-the-first-time">as of this month</a>, in humans.</p>
<p>But what we see happening now is - just like the supercomputers of the '80s - nothing compared to what's coming. And that's not just hype.</p>
<p>To fully comprehend exactly what a future with CRISPR might look like, how the system works, and what it all means, you really need to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhjPd4uNFY&feature=youtu.be">check out the video above</a>, because it's not only fascinating, it's also incredibly important.</p>
<p>What we will say, without giving too much away, is that, if the idea of designer babies makes you uncomfortable, then get ready, because that's a world we're already living in.</p>
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<p><strong>CRIPSR/Cas9 as a gene editing tool </strong></p>
<p><img alt="" src="/ckfinder/userfiles/images/cxc.PNG" style="height:460px; width:727px" /></p>
<p>Reference</p>
<p>1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhjPd4uNFY</p>
<p>2. http://www.sciencealert.com/this-video-explains-perfectly-why-crispr-really-will-change-humanity-forever</p>
<p>3. Nature Protocols 8, 2281–2308 (2013) doi:10.1038/nprot.2013.143 Published online . 24 October 2013</p>
<p>4. http://www.nature.com/news/crispr-gene-editing-is-just-the-beginning-1.19510</p>
<p><img alt="" src="/ckfinder/userfiles/images/crispr-graphic-ONLINE.jpg" style="height:1200px; width:445px" /></p>
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