生物世界的基本规律是演化，演化的核心机制是自然选择，自然选择的基本单位是基因。
亿万年来，细菌在与病毒经久不息的鏖战中，演化出了一套适应性免疫系统：CRISPR。即，细菌会“记住”病毒的DNA序列，等后者再次入侵时予以反击，切断其DNA。
亿万年后，生物圈的后来者 ——人类——认识了基因，解开了DNA的双螺旋结构，学会了“阅读”基因。现在，有了CRISPR这把“上古神剑”，人类更进一步，可以轻松地“编辑”基因了。这意味着，在未来，理性设计将逐渐取代自然选择，成为生物演变的动力。人类已经有能力重塑生物圈（包括人类自己）的演化，但我们能承担起这份责任吗？
CRISPR的发现与应用，是生物学进入21世纪以来最激动人心的故事，没有之一。CRISPR技术的先驱之一杜德娜与亲历者斯坦伯格，回顾了基因编辑技术的发展历程，展望了未来的发展趋势，并梳理了相关社会与伦理议题。本书值得所有关心生物技术与人类命运的人阅读。
Jennifer Doudna, the world-famous scientist behind CRISPR, ‘one of the most monumental discoveries in biology’ (New York Times), describes its power to reshape the future of all life and warns of its use.
A handful of discoveries have changed the course of human history. This book is about the most recent and potentially the most powerful and dangerous of them all.
It is an invention that allows us to rewrite the genetic code that shapes and controls all living beings with astonishing accuracy and ease. Thanks to it, the dreams of genetic manipulation have become a stark reality: the power to cure disease and alleviate suffering, to create new sources of food and energy, as well as to re-design any species, including humans, for our own ends.
Jennifer Doudna is the co-inventor of this technology, known as CRISPR, and a scientist of worldwide renown. Writing with fellow researcher Samuel Sternberg, here she provides the definitive account of her discovery, explaining how this wondrous invention works and what it is capable of.
A Crack In Creation also asks us to consider what our new-found power means: how do we enjoy its unprecedented benefits while avoiding its equally unprecedented dangers? As Doudna argues, every member of our species is implicated in the answers to these questions. Somehow we must consider and act together.
The future of humankind – and of all life on Earth – is at stake. This book is an essential guide to the path that now lies ahead.
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