This year's Nobel Prize in chemistry honours a revolution

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It will be a revolution that will some day allow us to cure diseases, fend off virus pandemics and - if we decide it is wise - design babies with the genetic features we want for them.

Even though her high school counsellor told her girls did not become scientists, she decided she would...The award is also a great testament to the growing power of women in the life sciences.

When this year's prize was announced, Dr Charpentier said it would "provide a message specifically to young girls who would like to follow the path of science and to show them that in friendship, women can also be awarded prizes".

In 2018, Chinese scientist He Jiankui, who had been to some of Dr Doudna's gene-editing conferences, shocked the world by using Crispr to help produce the world's first "designer babies". He edited human embryos to remove a gene that produces a receptor for the human immunodeficiency virus that causes Aids.

Crispr raises some tough moral questions. Should we edit our species to make us less susceptible to deadly viruses?..Should we eliminate disorders such as Huntington's disease, sickle cell anaemia and cystic fibrosis? That sounds good, too. And what about congenital deafness or blindness? Or being short? Or depressed? Hmm. How should we think about that? A few decades from now, if it becomes possible and safe, should we allow parents to enhance the IQ and physical strength of their kids? Should we let them decide eye colour? Skin colour? Height?

the technology that will increasingly determine how nature works.

Qns:

1. Consider the view that some careers are better suited to one gender than the other. (Cam. 2014)

2. How far is science fiction becoming fact? (Cam. 2017)

3. ‘Nature must always give way to man.’ What is your view? (TJC Prelim 2020)

4. Given the ethical considerations, to what extent should genetic engineering be allowed? (TJC Prelim 2020)