What you need to know about CRISPR | Ellen Jorgensen

Should we bring back the wooly mammoth? Or edit a human embryo? Or wipe out an entire species that we consider harmful? The genome-editing technology CRISPR has made extraordinary questions like these legitimate — but how does it work? Scientist and community lab advocate Ellen Jorgensen is on a mission to explain the myths and realities of CRISPR, hype-free, to the non-scientists among us.

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[Mikos]

I wish TED did more of those scientific talks instead of yet another "inspirational coaching"
CRISPR is one viral thing, but how about EM "Impossible" Drive or Recent nano engine...They only seem to be center on AI recently with hosts saying same things over and over again.

[frtuzer]

Once the technology is out, no amount of laws, moratoriums, or policy will prevent it being worked on in every conceivable way, be it rats, rabbits or humans. I don't think it is an inherently bad thing, but no doubt terrible things will happen along the way, out of sight. It is absolutely inevitable.

[cmlake]

Y'all, get on board with this technology. I'd like to see my Aunt's Huntington's disease completely eradicated. I see her suffer. There are more people like my aunt that need this DNA editing. Let's not get stuck on super babies and wooly mammoths. Those are petty subjects to those who have little time left to live. The philosophical conversations are critical to understanding but all the talk seems to stymie a potential miracle for someone looking at only a few months or years remaining. The subject makes my heart race with hope but the conversations of morality put dark spots in that hope.

[CanadaMMA]

It's staggering how far along technology has come in my life time. I couldn't imagine this technology as a child....

[jasontempleton]

Science is hard work. There are people in their particular fields that make great contributions and never get recognized. To those people I would say thank you. You do the human race proud. Maybe you do it for the money, and/or fame, but you know what, if you're helping someone, that makes a difference. So again, thank you

[MercenaryBlackWaterz]

I want a mammoth steak but only if it's CRISPIER.

[AnonMedic]

I love how she summarized it all up into the final statement.

[TM-uiwx]

I've never heard of it but it sounds delicious.

[lu]

thanks to kurzgesagt, i know what she's talking about... well most of it

[joela.]

Its kind of bummer to think my generation will be the last generation to NOT benefit from CRISPR..

[lisafarrell]

I love this. Dare I say a faster delivery. Superb delivery by the way. You ladies know how to speak. Thank you

[radreonx]

What I don't understand is, when Cas9 cuts the DNA, if it's only broken then shoving the two pieces together sounds right. If I'm mistaken and it cuts OUT a chunk, then I still don't quite grasp what the repair pathways have to do with anything. I did a bit of research, and I think the two pathways being discussed here are HR and NHEJ, but apparently homologous recombination, which is the supposedly more "interesting" repair pathway only occurs during meiosis. Other articles mention CRISPR being able to be applied to non-dividing cells that make up most adult tissue - which is quite obvious, or else it wouldn't be of much use to any living person - so that means it doesn't involve HR. So how does the cell respond when the DNA is cut? Or did I get the whole repair pathway thing wrong? When she said feed it a bit of DNA, does it mean to inject DNA and the cell just happens to find the piece lying around and use it to link the broken bits? Or was it carried with the cas9 protein? Also, apparently if you "blunt" the cutters of cas9, it makes the protein stay in place on the targeted gene and temporarily turns it off. How does that work? Really hope someone watching this knows a bit more about the topic than myself and can help me out a bit. Thanks internet. :)

[lovefight]

I'm 14, and I'm trying to learn as much as I can about genetic engineering before University. If anyone knows of any articles or videos on CRISPR/Cas9 and genetically engineering/alteration please link them, I'd greatly appreciate any and all knowledge on the subject. Thank you!

[thestateofalaska]

I think we should bring back the wooly mammoth, but like a miniature one the size of a small dog

[Strongs_G]

@6:29 “The devil is in the details.” Very interesting choice of words.

There are two types of tomatoes. Naturally grown and GMO (genetically modified organism) aka DNA 🧬 edited.

The naturally grown tomato is a product of nature and is not owned by a corporate patent.

However, GMO tomato is owned by a corporate patent. Think Monsanto.

So the question is, if your DNA is edited by CRISPR technology, who will own you?

[sivmatt]

yeah, yeah, just give me super powers ^^

[VineetNairz]

When it comes to CRISPR why is everybody going crazy about the wooly mammoth and blue eyes but nobody thinks about the lives it could save by curing diseases ? So excited for this. Imagine you can live happily with your family protected with an efficient healthcare. How peaceful.

[officialejj]

Y'all go to Kurzgesagt it has the cutest animations and you really do pay attention to what the beautiful voice of a British man is saying ☺️

[justgivemethetruth]

1:43 - "That's how it works" Nice graphic animation of how CRISPR works.

[MatthewLogan]

I hope that lots of good will come of this. I'm concerned that making these genetic changes will be as if you are pushing at the tip of an iceberg without realizing that there's a mountain of ice below the ocean's surface that you can't see yet.