The Mutant Project: Inside the Global Race to Genetically Modify Humans
In November 2018, the world was stunned when Dr. Jiankui He announced the birth of Lulu and Nana, the first genetically modified babies. A year later, he was sentenced to prison—but his experiment had already ignited a worldwide race in gene editing.
In The Mutant Project: Inside the Global Race to Genetically Modify Humans, anthropologist Eben Kirksey takes us to the frontlines of CRISPR technology, human DNA manipulation, and genetic engineering, exploring the ethical dilemmas, social consequences, and human stories behind this groundbreaking science. Who gets access to these technologies? What happens when powerful tools like CRISPR gene-editing move from elite labs into local clinics? And how might they widen global inequalities in health, race, and economics?
Through interviews with scientists, entrepreneurs, doctors, patients, biohackers, and activists, Kirksey reveals competing visions of our genetic future—from Silicon Valley’s biotech optimism to grassroots demands for fairness, bioethics, and justice. His research highlights how genetic modification, biotechnology, and the innovation economyare reshaping the future of medicine, social policy, and even human identity.
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Start your free seven-day trial and unlock this episode plus hundreds more, all ad-free, when you become a Mysterian on Patreon. Yeah, I'm looking at that now. Oh, wow.
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Okay, so is she the only one they've ever found that had these type of cells? Uh, there's, there's a number of different cell lines out there, and, uh, HeLa cells are, are probably the most famous cell lines.
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Um, but, you know, all kinds of other, uh, cells with very idiosyncratic mutations are, are living in laboratories all, all around us.
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So, you know, when, when you get blood work done at the doctor, um, you know, or, or other procedures done, um, some- sometimes these cells of other people are, are used to test things.
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Um, they're, they're used for a variety of things to make sure that, you know, some drugs are safe.
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Um, they're, they're used to, you know, get, get basic knowledge, uh, a- a- about, you know, what, what is a human cell and how does it work?
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Um Unlock this episode right now by clicking on the link for your free seven-day trial in the show notes or by visiting mysteriousradio.com.
