L&D 2020: Shaping change in learning
Technology
Genetic modification
Since the early 1980s, when a harmless bacterium was engineered to produce insulin for diabetics, hundreds of plants and animals have been successfully modified to provide a wide range of medicines and vaccines1. Future generations continue to carry the genetic modification, leading to new plant and animal varieties.
Over the years, genetically modified (GM) food has increased plant production by faster growth, in less fertile soil. GM plants yield better harvests that are more resistant to weeds, diseases and pests. But in spite of improved government controls, trade problems such as those experienced more than 10 years ago over GM soybeans2, continue to surface periodically.
Today’s computers are now so powerful they can simulate the consequences of many changes to DNA. As a result, GM plants, and more recently animals, can undergo extremely rigorous testing before being released commercially. This is helping to allay public fears, such as those of the late 1990s, where some GM crops caused problems in the food chain while others were considered unsafe to eat.
In medicine, genetic modification routinely overcomes the inherited disorders discovered during early pre-natal screening. Foetuses now have the opportunity of a normal life through interventions to repair their faulty genes. For example, inherited disorders such as Down's syndrome and cystic fibrosis have all but disappeared. However, many parents believe that ‘playing God’ is wrong and will not take part in pre-natal screening.
Since Professor Tsien’s experiments with the smart mice strain, called Doogie3, in the late 1990s, scientists have continued their genetic tinkering to make animals smarter. The original researchers added a single gene to mice that significantly boosted a mouse’s ability to solve maze tasks, learn from objects and sounds in their environment – and to retain that knowledge4.
Although theoretically possible, enhancing human cognitive abilities through genetic modification alone is still proving elusive – and controversial. Brains can be imaged for activity, but pinpointing a corresponding ‘intelligent’ gene is difficult. Researchers are concentrating their efforts on families with known ‘super traits’ – musicians, artists and scientists – in the search for genetic commonalities.
Gene therapy is continuing to treat various cancers5 and also disorders involving memory loss. Trials are underway to use gene therapy, or ‘gene enhancement’ in a non-clinical setting, to make memory and learning improvements more widely available. However, the ethical issue of permanently increasing people’s natural capabilities is still a hot discussion topic.
Some argue that the line between health and disease is so fine that policy makers should not attempt to draw it. Others see the aging process itself as a medical condition and therefore one that should be treated.
Developments in human genetic modification still hit the headlines and in the UK, the ‘designer babies’ spectre continues to fuel public concern. Other countries – notably the USA, Russia and China – are genetically enhancing the features of babies, such as their hair and eye colour, ‘on demand’. In January 2020, ‘Sunday Times Online’ carried several web pages and chat forum, ‘Design-a-Descendant’, to further promote the current ethical debate.
1. http://www.evolutionary-metaphysics.net/advancing_technology.html
2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7188087.stm 01/08
3. http://www.gene.ch/gentech/1999/Sep/msg00013.html
4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/435816.stm
5. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Therapy/gene
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