In vitro fertilization has opened the path to a new era of reproductive interventions. How did we arrive at a point where we could soon be creating designer babies?
Stanford neuroscientist William B. Hurlbut talks about his dealings with the Chinese researcher who created the world’s first gene-edited babies, and about the implications of that experiment.
Insight Video: If warnings about environmental disaster or the threat of war seem overly alarmist—that things always work out in the end—maybe it’s time to think again.
Neuroscientist Anders Sandberg talks about the challenges and risks inherent in our steady march toward an age where machine intelligence surpasses that of human beings.
Insight Video: The perilous state of our natural world is enough to induce anxiety and distress in all but those who refuse to see. Is there any reason for hope?
What kind of world will our children inherit? Today’s environmental problems call for a long-term global solution—one that upends a current business-as-usual focus on near-term benefit.
Piers Millett of Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute talks about potential global biological catastrophes stemming from such risks as bioterrorism, pandemic disease and genetic manipulation.
Both Stephen Hawking and Martin Rees have expressed optimism about the role of science and technology in resolving humanity’s overarching questions and problems. Vision reviews their recent books.
Historian Lisa Vox argues for finding a way to address the threats that face us all. It starts, she says, with not condemning others for holding a different worldview.
