A Cure for Cancer?
CRISPR for Dummies
Dear Subscribers,
Hey, so do you guys know anything about CRISPR? I sure didn’t until this week’s conversation with Oxford PHD and author, Kevin Davies (pronounced Davis). It sounds like a weed app, but actually it’s the most revolutionary gene-editing technology ever discovered. Think of CRISPR as biological scissors—it’s a gene sequence that, when employed with a specific target, can rewrite DNA. In essence, CRISPR can go in and cut and tailor the DNA for the desired result (I think I got that right). Anyway, this technology could either be our savior, helping to cure cancer, eradicate genetic disorders, and save the environment, OR, it could be the end of life on earth as we know it. Programmable genetic alterations—what could go wrong? Here’s the thing: CRISPR is relatively inexpensive, and largely unregulated, thus the technology is democratized. In the wrong hands, who knows what could happen? There’s a guy out there trying to de-extinct the Wooly Mammoth. There’s another guy selling CRISPR kits online to unlock muscle size. What could the military do with this technology? I’m telling you, people, it’s the wild west out there! Hopefully, Kevin can talk me off the ledge the way Carl Zimmer did about the ubiquity of germs, or Ellen Vora did about my rampant anxiety. As, always, I’m looking for a Fresh Face in Hell, somebody to save us, to renew our faith, to mobilize our curiosity, to remind us in the face of the shitstorm of the modern world that life is still pretty cool.
CRISPR for Dummies goes live Wednesday morning all the usual places, so tune in! And hey, keep spreading the word about the podcast—likes, shares, word of mouth, it all helps. Someday, I want to buy a giant inflatable duck with sunglasses to put in my yard, and I’m guessing that would be a prohibitive expense at this point. However, if the podcast blows up and starts generating big cabbage, I will fulfill this dream. I’ll have a big unveiling party, and all you people who knew me when will be invited. It’ll be epic.
In other news, I’m thinking about doing some episodes with people who have really unique or intense jobs. I’m curious as hell about people’s jobs. I’m gonna interview an ER nurse, and a rock n’ roll tour manager. If you can think of other fascinating jobs and you happen to know a big personality who has such a job and is willing give us all the inside scoop, hit us up. Or if there’s just a job you’ve always been curious about. We love the input.
Onward, friends! Keep the faith!
Xoxo,
Johnny