"So one plan is to link together chunks of synthetic DNA, making a researcher-created human genome that can control a cell in a lab dish," Tabitha M. Powledge writes in reviewing coverage of a not-quite-secret recent meeting at Harvard and an associated Science paper. Though the proponents say they aren't creating synthetic humans, ethicists still worry that their work opens the door to that. Also, what could possibly be wrong with gene-editing an end to mosquitoes?
June 11, 2016