Our news predictions for 2016

CRISPR-Cas9 leads to a range of new gene editing research You probably haven't heard of CRISPR-Cas 9, but that could well change by the end of 2016. CRISPR-Cas9 is a gene editing technique that uses a combination of the Cas9 protein and a strand of RNA to make breaks in strands of DNA. Then new genetic code can be placed inside the breaks. This can allow genetic code to be rewritten. Gene editing is nothing new, but the reason CRISPR-Cas 9 has got the scientific community to sit up and take notice is that it is powerful, reliable, quick and, most importantly, cheap. CRISPR-Cas 9 "components" can be bought off the shelf for as little $30 compared to $5,000 for older types of editing components. The ranges of possible applications are huge, which is why Science magazine declared the technique its "Breakthrough of the Year". One possibility, as we discussed in January, is that a human embryo could be "edited" and then implanted into a womb creating a "designer baby". This would be illegal under UK law, but other countries have more ambiguous legislation. A portable personal therapist in your pocket One toy on many a girl's Christmas list this year is Hello Barbie. This is a traditional Barbie doll with very untraditional features. Using a wi-fi connection the doll can connect to a powerful cloud database that contains both sophisticated natural language recognition algorithms as well as over 8,000 lines of recorded dialogue. This allows a...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: QA articles Special reports Source Type: news