Genetic engineering will change everything forever

Genetic engineering has accelerated millennia of altering various crops' genes

Although farmers have long cross-bred crops to obtain plants with specific colors, sizes, and other characteristics, these processes took significant time. Today, genetic modification in agriculture involves scientists altering an organism's DNA for various purposes, including enhancing pathogen resistance, removing allergens, and delaying spoilage.

3-parent baby technique fuels worries of future 'designer babies'

Some critics of this approach worry that any genetic manipulation will both culturally and technologically normalize the idea of "designer babies"—embryos that are manipulated or selected based on physiological characteristics including height, eye color, athletic ability, and intelligence.

Gene therapy, a hope of the Human Genome Project, has successfully treated a baby born with a rare urea cycle disorder that causes toxic ammonia level buildup.

How personalized gene-editing saved a baby's life

KJ Muldoon had a 50% chance of surviving a genetic mutation until doctors developed a one-of-a-kind gene-editing therapy. In an interview with one of the researchers behind the treatment, learn what it will take to make personalized genetic medicine possible for everyone.

In 2025, researchers in the UK began working on developing artificial DNA

The Synthetic Human Genome Project aims to one day construct human DNA, molecule by molecule, in the hopes of creating disease-resistant cells and synthetic chromosomes for study. However, critics warn it may be misused to create enhanced or modified humans.

Synthetic biology can prevent extinction by creating create disease-resilient plants and animals

Through gene editing and the deployment of artificial cells, scientists can leverage learnings from the genetic sequencing of animals with known resistances to protect endangered species. Gene editing of certain species, such as mosquitoes, can also reduce their ability to spread diseases like malaria between humans.

While humans have been genetically modifying plants for millennia by selectively breeding organisms with certain traits, gene-editing tools like CRISPR have further enhanced plants, conferring resistance to drought, pests, and diseases.

Synthetic biology transforms cells into custom DNA foundries

At companies like Ginkgo Bioworks, researchers are reprogramming cells to act as workshops that can create custom molecules, such as medicines and fertilizers, by stitching together DNA sequences—often in novel combinations—before inserting them into an organism's genome.

A deeper (nontechnical) dive into how CRISPR works

Extra crispy? No, it's CRISPR, but this gene-editing technology is "extra" in the sense of being momentous and destined to change everything. Through CRISPR, scientist exploit a quirk in bacteria immune systems, allowing them to potentially, and quickly, control genes, remove undesirable traits, and add preferred ones. The possibilities and applications are endless.

Gene therapy can occur inside the body, but it can also be completed outside the body—with scientists treating cells in the lab, and then those corrected cells are transplanted back into the body.

See how a novel gene editing technique called base editing can create changes in a single DNA base, using a more precise targeting approach than CRISPR-Cas9.

Epigenetic editing—altering gene expression by removing or adding chemical groups on DNA—is making significant strides in the lab, even lowering cholesterol in monkey experiments by about 70%. (Free w/email.)

Gene therapy treats a disease by editing the disease's underlying DNA, replacing it with a functional variant.

The history of the gene: an interactive timeline

Humans didn’t need modern technology to figure out that kids tend to look like their parents. But what did humans believe about genetics before we knew about DNA or cells in general? Explore this interactive timeline to see how philosophers and scientists throughout the ages tried to explain how traits are passed from generation to generation.

Gut bacteria are evolving and can acquire as many as 100 new genes per year, on average.

In 2026, the FDA proposed a novel approach to expedite reviews of gene therapies for patients with rare genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis, potentially bypassing the need for years-long clinical trials if approved.

Changing a single letter in DNA can permanently alter an organism

Genetic mutations occur when cells replicate, which requires a copy of DNA to be created, and involve substituting, deleting, or inserting letters in a cell's genetic code. Mutations can be caused by normal cellular processes, chemical exposure (e.g., carcinogens), or radiation and may result in genetic disorders or genetic variations that drive evolution.

CRISPR allows scientists to cut out and replace faulty or unwanted DNA, which can help treat genetic disorders, such as sickle cell disease, and create genetically modified organisms, such as allergen-free foods.

'Endoevolution' refers to the Darwinian selection happening continually inside us

The term, coined by Roxanne Khamsi in her 2026 book "Beyond Inheritance: Our Ever-Mutating Cells and a New Understanding of Health" describes the idea that evolution does not just occur across generations of humans. Instead, mutated cells continuously compete with healthy ones in our bodies, with implications for our tissues and health. Khamsi says these autocorrections are essentially natural gene therapy. 

Move over gene editing, scientists can edit your epigenome

Instead of deleting genes, epigenetic editing modulates their activity. A new paper tests if it’s able to undo a genetic effect of early alcohol exposure.

See a timeline of landmark discoveries in the field of genetics to gain a better understanding of more than a century of advances.

Silicon Valley startups Orchid, Nucleus, and Genomic Prediction are selling so-called polygenic tests for prospective parents

These tests claim to show how at-risk a hypothetical baby would be for genetic syndromes. The newfound industry has prompted ethical and medical debates, with critics questioning their accuracy and highlighting the potential problems behind pursuing the perfect baby.

The promises and perils of using at-home genetic tests for your health

A primer on genetic testing, personalized medicine, and the promise of pharmacogenomics–the use of genetics to predict an individual's response to a drug.

Advance genetic research by playing these scientific video games

Computers produce so much information that researchers can't properly analyze all the data produced, and the overload can also lead computers to make mistakes. Researchers are increasingly turning to citizen scientists—members of the public who are willing to volunteer—to help them make sense of data when computers can't. This article details a few of the ways you can contribute to genetics research by playing video games.

Challenges for synthetic biology

Can engineering approaches tame the complexity and unpredictability of living systems? An exploration of five challenges for the field and how they might be resolved.

Explaining CRISPR at five levels of technical detail

CRISPR is a new area of biomedical science that enables gene editing and could be the key to eventually curing diseases like autism or cancer. WIRED challenges biologist Neville Sanjana to explain this concept to 5 different people; a 7-year-old, a 14-year-old, a college student, a grad student and a CRISPR expert.

CRISPR turns 10 years old

When Dr. Jennifer Doudna and colleagues released a paper in 2012 demonstrating the ability to harness the cell's natural immunity machinery to edit DNA, it received little fanfare. A decade later, the gene editing technology has led to innovations in medicine, evolution, and agriculture—and raised profound ethical questions about altering human DNA.

Mosquitoes are the world's deadliest animal, but gene drives could kill them.

Advances in agriculture are being powered by CRISPR to boost carbon capture

Researchers are using CRISPR to test thousands of plant gene edits, aiming to speed up breeding and maximize carbon retention in soil. By engineering drought tolerance, they also aim to increase crop yields and expand the environments where crops can grow.

How to prevent a worst-case scenario with synbio

Author and entrepreneur Rob Reid reviews the risks of a world where more and more people have access to the technology needed to create a doomsday bug that could wipe out humanity.

Fully sequenced human genome will help scientists better understand disease

April marks the 20-year anniversary of the completion of the Human Genome Project, a monumental achievement that provided the first map of the human genetic code and advanced our understanding of human biology, disease, and potential treatments....

CRISPR is a gene-editing tool that lets scientists cut out and replace damaged DNA.

Scientific advances are unlocking a wide range of alternatives to IVF

From refined artificial insemination and microsurgical sperm extraction to experimental uterine transplants, scientific innovation is rapidly advancing potential fertilization technologies. But they come along with costly trials, some ethical dilemmas, regulatory issues, and more.

Precision medicine, offering the right treatment at the right time for individuals, integrates genomics, data analytics, and AI to predict risks, personalize treatments, and improve patient outcomes.

Here’s how different genetic disorders get passed on

The human genome is complex, as identified by the Human Genome Project. This article digs in to genetic disorders, the most common ones, and how they are diagnosed.

Visualization of printing synthetic DNA

Ever wonder how synthetic DNA is made? Discover how GenScript uses innovative technology to synthesize precise, high-quality DNA at a larger scale than ever before.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

A single-gene mutation in the FOXC2 gene gave actress Elizabeth Taylor two rows of eyelashes.

Gene therapy is restoring hearing among kids with genetic deafness

Gene therapy for profound genetic deafness has been advancing in recent years, with multiple clinical trials enabling hearing at normal levels for the first time without hearing aids or cochlear implants. The therapies target hearing loss caused by mutations in the OTOF gene that codes for a protein called otoferlin. That protein normally plays a key role in relaying sound signals in synaptic transmission between the ear's inner hair cells and the auditory nerve.

Biohacking to boost personal health has become a concept that encompasses everything from vitamin regimens and cryochambers to brain implants and red light therapy.

Multiple new research paths may lead to slowing (or even reversing) aging

Aging has always been inevitable, but fasting, epigenetic reprogramming, and parabiosis seem to help people stay young. By studying centenarians, memory, and even the humble roundworm, scientists are looking for the genetic basis to live not just a long life, but a healthy one.

Astronauts have repaired genetic damage in space using CRISPR—a molecular tool that can make precise changes to DNA and is used in single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses.

Is synbio really cool, really scary, or both?

There's always been a divide between technology, the inanimate stuff that we build, and biology, the living stuff that nature builds. Synthetic biologists are trying to figure out how to close the gap by building living things.

GMOs sound scary, but you eat them every day

Why are GMOs bad? They aren't. We've been eating them for decades with no ill effects, which makes sense, because a genetically modified organism is simply an organism, like every other organism, produces hundreds of thousands of proteins, but one or two of them are proteins that were chosen specifically by humans. Watch this 11-minute video for more.

Genetic engineering mice is one idea to reduce Lyme disease transmission

Wild white-footed mice are the main carriers of Lyme. A research team is hoping to genetically engineer mice, using CRISPR, to make the animals immune to Lyme. They're proposing a field trial where they would insert a gene with an antibody to Lyme infection to break the disease transmission cycle on a private island and then try it in Nantucket if that goes well. Simply killing the mice isn't an option because it would upend food webs. Unlike traditional vaccines, this "heritable immunization" would pass from one generation of mice to the next.

Recombinant DNA technology turns microorganisms into protein factories

Genes for molecules such as insulin can be inserted into loops of bacterial DNA called plasmids and reinserted into bacteria. Once placed in fermentation tanks, these bacteria use the gene to produce these molecules, which are then harvested and purified for eventual use.

Where do genes come from?

There are many more genes on Earth today than when microbial life first spawned on the planet about four billion years ago. Many of these newer genes grew from genetic mutations, misprints that slowly drift from the original blueprint via cellular division. If these mutations drift far enough, they can establish a new family of genes, though this process can take well over a million years.

Scientists using gene therapy recently managed to regenerate retinal cells in the lab—a breakthrough for mammals that could potentially lead to future treatments for human retinal diseases.

The scientist that biohacked a buff frog

If a tree frog was injected with a DNA mixture containing follistatin, a gene that may influence muscle growth, would it become buff? Josiah Zayner hopes so. By learning how to biohack animals, he hopes people are one step closer to feeling more comfortable "whipping up DIY gene therapy."

Biotech is trying to boost drug production efficiency—using chicken eggs

A company called Neion Bio is genetically engineering birds in a bid to produce medical compounds, a herculean task that scientists have struggled with for decades. The US FDA has approved only one chicken-derived drug in the past—an expensive treatment for a rare liver disorder. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)