The science behind human body is amazing. Some people are healthy while others are weak, some are tall while others short. Every human being has different characteristics specific to them for example like unique type of face, even though all humans have same parts which are two eyes, two ears, a nose and a mouth but they still differ too much with their faces. This is fascinating.
A human body is the best machine in the world by far. No artificial machine is as good as the biological one. Yet it is too complex. Many of the characteristics of human being are encoded in our Genes like height, IQ etc. Usually these Genes come from our parents and cannot be altered.
But research and studies in the past have shown that genes can be altered. So what does it mean? How it will affect us? What does it mean to the future of humanity? And how can we achieve it? Let's try to figure out all the questions mentioned above.
What is gene editing?
It is clear from word itself, making changes in the genes according to us! Basically all the things which are encoded in the genes like height, IQ etc. can be altered according to us like if we want our height to be changed, we can have it. If we want smartness, we can have it and much more.
The pioneering Research of Jennifer Doudna in the field of gene-editing through CRISPR(Clustered Regularly Interspaced ShortPalindromic Repeats) technology and of the others like Professor of Harvard University made it possible which was impossible and science-fictitious.
Let's now see an overview of how gene-editing works. What happens is that whoever edits the gene(scientist/doctor), they find the DNA where that particular gene is say for example height encoded in the DNA, so they find out the DNA where height is encoded and through some kind of technology (technological scissor), they cut that particular DNA and make changes in it and after the changes are done they replace it back in the gene of our body where it was before. And there we have it, after 4-5 months we will see the changes in ourselves, in this case the height.
Not only humans but any other organism like animals, insects or plants can go through gene-editing. An organism which goes through gene-editing is considered a GMO(Genetically Modified Organism).
How gene-editing will affect us?
If gene-editing becomes successful which it is becoming right now, humans will have so much control over them. It will be really helpful in many areas. In fact right now scientists are trying to use it with mosquitoes to get rid of malaria and this technology might be used to get rid of other diseases. Recently a breakthrough has been made that blindness can be reversed through CRISPR, that is huge!
Scientists are going to use CRISPR combined with AI to make humans live longer for around like 200 years. What scientists are trying to achieve is that as time passes, we get younger instead of getting old. Somehow they will re-activate the anti-ageing genes which will ultimately give humans longevity in life.
Gene-Editing might play a very important role in Agriculture, it may give us the potential to control food production which can have a huge impact on humans. We always see that sometimes or often food production faces crisis due to heavy rain or any other climate disaster, but with the help of the Gene-Editing Technology such problems can vanish. So people will not starve and they no longer have to sleep with an empty stomach.
If these things like longevity and end of blindness occur in the world, then obviously it will have a huge impact on our lives in the long run.
Conclusion
Slowly and slowly what was possible in the science fiction is now becoming a reality. Gene-Editing Technology can be beneficiary as well as destructive too if we think about it. It depends on how someone is going to use it.
Hence we will have to make sure that this technology benefits humanity without any bad effects on our lives. Let's make sure that this technology does not harm us. Who knows in future, the Gene-Editing Technology may give humans the potential to regenerate their body parts like hands, foot etc. If this happens, it will revolutionize humans on a whole another level.
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