26 Comments
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Alex's avatar

This is exciting! Great post.

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Prisoner of Planet Moron's avatar

Excellent exposition of an extremely complex and important topic.

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Sean's avatar

I love this:

"I find a lot of science journalism frustrating because it deliberately leaves out such details, thinking they would baffle the reader"

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Denis Wilkinson's avatar

Great explanation, that ordinary folk can understand.

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Jonathan Tyce's avatar

Thank you Matt, wonderful news indeed and a reminder of the power of human innovation

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Jacob Gardner's avatar

It is an exciting time to be alive! I hope we don’t give up on funding medical trials and research.

Here are some of the most recent developments:

https://www.nature.com/subjects/biotechnology

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Ilene's avatar

I wish they could decipher the code to misfolded proteins in Parkinson's disease and reverse it.

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Mark O'Connor's avatar

Please keep these inspiring innovations coming. You are doing a great job.

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Steve Mudge's avatar

That's amazing to edit all the liver cells! A.I., protein topology, and technology like CRISPr will I'm sure revolutionize medicine.

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Andrew's avatar

Excellnt post on an exciting development in gene therapy! I really appreciate your well-informed perspectives and reporting. I have read many of your books and articles, and I am really looking forward to reading Bird, Sex, and Beauty. Thank you for promoting rationality in a world full of chaos.

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Craig Morris's avatar

The FDA was involved in this therapy. I wonder if they still have the capacity to support research like this??

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primob's avatar

Wonderful news.

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Grant A. Brown's avatar

They can do this, but they can't find a way to selectively kill the dandelion.

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David Redfern's avatar

What's wrong with dandelions?

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Grant A. Brown's avatar

Nothing's wrong with the redwood tree, but you don't want one growing through the middle of your home.

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EKB's avatar

This is amazing!

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Chartertopia's avatar

Thanks for the great description, and yes a pox on crappy science reporting. My biggest annoyance is the lead paragraphs which say nothing, unless it is something like "Leading scientists say this is a great discovery", and the next paragraph is a scientist who they quote saying, "This is a great discovery." Gosh thanks.

I have long had a vision of the future where every bathroom either has sensors on toilets, or has a sensor on the counter, where you insert your finger, a laser samples your blood, an almost instant analysis checks for signs of cancer or COVID or ordinary colds, and 5 seconds later you've got a pill to take. No need for invasive surgery, except for physical damage like weapon wounds or accidental injuries. 50 years, maybe. 100 years, I am sure of it. And it would include general DNA analysis like this one, although perhaps only once at birth and not necessary in the daily finger blood check.

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Elle Griffin's avatar

This is such an exciting breakthrough! And I so agree with you in your frustration of mainstream publications who dumb down the science too much. Thank you for including those details.

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