The Realities of Gene Editing with CRISPR I NOVA I PBS
CRISPR gene-editing technology is advancing quickly. What can it do now—and in the future?
The revolutionary gene-editing tool known as CRISPR can alter, add, and remove genes from the human genome. The implications are immense: It could help eliminate illnesses like sickle cell disease and muscular dystrophy, and could even allow us to alter the genes of future generations of humans, leading to so-called designer babies. But will this ever really happen?
Medical journalist and pediatrician Alok Patel investigates the current state of CRISPR—starting with a bull calf named Cosmo. Patel discovers how scientists edited Cosmo’s genome so he would produce more male offspring, and what that means for humans. In conversation with scientists, artists, and ethicists, Patel explores what kind of gene editing is actually possible right now—and what we should be thinking about when we consider manipulating human traits and, ultimately, the human experience.
PRODUCTION CREDITS:
Hosted by Dr. Alok Patel
WRITTEN, PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY
Caitlin Saks
EDITED BY
Robert Kirwan
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Jay Colamaria
CAMERA
Arlo Pérez
UC DAVIS FIELD DIRECTOR / CAMERA
Zachary Fink
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS
Ana Aceves
Christina Monnen
Arlo Pérez
Jay Colamaria
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Lorena Lyon
INTERNS
Jessie Hendricks
Samuel Lipsey
AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE / ENGLISH INTERPRETER
Adam Bartley
ANIMATION
Edgeworx Studios
ADDITIONAL ANIMATION
2K-12 Studios
Mitch Butler
MUSIC
APM
ONLINE EDITOR AND COLORIST
David Bigelow
AUDIO MIX
Chris Anderson
ARCHIVAL MATERIAL
AP Archive
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Getty Images
He Jiankui Lab / CC BY
Penn Medicine
Pond 5
Storyblocks
SPECIAL THANKS
Mike Baylis — Assisted in the set up of a remote interview, at no cost.
Isaac Plant — Reviewed script and graphics for scientific accuracy, at no cost.
Elizabeth Delgado — Reviewed script and graphics for scientific accuracy, at no cost.
Dr. Samira Kiani — Reviewed script and graphics for scientific accuracy, at no cost.
Dr. Kim Thornton — Interviewed but did not include in the final film, at no cost.
Participants:
Françoise Baylis
Teresa Blankmeyer Burke
Karmella Haynes
Xavier LaPlante
David Liu
Bret McNabb
Liana Novoa
Alok Patel
Ariana Pelaez
Brianna Sapienza
Niaz Uddin
Alison Van Eenennaam
Image credit: (DNA helix)
© WGBH Educational Foundation
Comments
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@DonnaMonna-o8z
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
A very informative video.
@rpbertrolivar
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
This was a great watch.
@IygfZadc
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
The explanation was excellent.
@DonnaHomentra
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
Always great content from you.
@jaihoonsafi1303
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
this is a world changing technology, like every great technology it needs to be regulated, and should be absolutely used for editing out diseases, and errors in human's genes that we don't want, we shouldn't start with changing hair and eye color as those are superficial, and we should focus on more important life changing things first
@calvincrawford2381
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
WHY NOT MASK THE CATTLE WHILE WERE AT IT?
@calvincrawford2381
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
SOO STUPID PEOPLE WEARING MASKS OUTSIDE FOR TV……
@Bitdog4U
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
What man should create is enhanced grass with peanut protein,
that produces nitrogen from its roots,
and grows well below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
More nutrients, vitamins, and stuff that animals can use.
Instead, IDIOT man makes glow in the dark trinket crap.
There are many other plants that could use an enhancement.
What do deer eat? Work on that.
Adding cold weather gene's makes equator fruits grow everywhere.
With man unable to control his breeding, overpopulation is killing off thousands of species on this planet without our knowledge.
It's time we started doing something right for a change?
With appropriate caution, of course.
@Bitdog4U
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
With AI getting better every day, in 100 years we will be able to alter
the GERM LINE of DNA for selective breeding of HUMANS, just like GOD intended.
Some may want children that are stupider, uglier, & have some serious inherited diseases,
but most people will want the opposite. $19.95 per improvement will help your children's children forever.
IQ improvement $19.95 could get people out of Harlem slum mentality, like a "Basic Civility" injection or something.
So your kids aren't packing a gun at night to "get rich, or die trying", burning & looting our cities while claiming that their lives matter.
AND since popularity is everything, Straight hair, $19.95
Your kids will not have to poison themselves to appear better, or spend hours of tying their hair in ugly knots.
Hair color, for $19.95 you could have lighter colored hair that you CAN COLOR. Artists don't start with a black canvas.
Melanin pigment, for $19.95 you could have less skin color, so sunlight will enter your body and produce vitamin C & do the blood purification thing, so other process in your body are possible. Then a person could reflect enough light for a camera, & gain the ability to blush.
Subtle facial expressions could be seen, so people can't lie as well and every one around you will become more honest, even to the point that minorities wouldn't create a Banana republic type surrounding that destroys the AMERICAN DREAM for everyone, anymore. What a great investment that $19.95 would be.
Lip & nose reduction, $19.95 so your flapping lips don't rip off your face at 80 mph on a motorcycle, & a gorilla nose doesn't catch bugs like a funnel.
I drive a FZ1 & > 100 mph requires a tight face.
Health, $19.95 no more sickle cell anemia, or 2x+ the kidney & heart disease, & beyond.
So for about $100.00 you can tell those white supremacists that they are finally wrong.
Until then, since global over population is destroying one species of life after another on this planet, and once extinct, THEY ARE NOT COMING BACK.
We will have to do POPULATION REDUCTION the natural way, which includes SELECTIVE BREEDING.
Which keeps all variations of DNA alive, such as the 7 types of humans in Africa, and the different races around the world.
Because we aren't stupid or anything.
@peteross2008
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
Lebensborn 2.0
@cheetabis
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
abused human freedom
@JonnyRockin
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
Scientists wearing masks in a fukinn pasture🤦🏼
@TheFandomFreakMike
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
I get people who want nothing to do with gene editing, etc. Choice is important and im for that. What im not for is others telling individuals what to do and how to live their lives. Thats a trait of religous evangalist/zealots, a trait i'd prefer to edit out of existence. In the pursuit of science, exploration, and human advancement, we will NEED things like CRISPR and VIRAL PHAGES to survive and thrive in the years to come, ezpecially if we are going to make it to becoming a TYPE 1 civilization and decreasing our chances of extinction.
@elusiveplatypus-w1z
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
3 of my blood relatives died in less than a year. 98 percent of my family is dead. I lost my father to kidney disease. My mom to Alzheimers. My uncle to a heart attack. My family has a long list of sicknesses and illnesses. One day my families medical history is going to come to take me out as well. I am so close to being the last surviving member of my family. If my parents genetically engineered me and their parents engineered them then this would not be happening to me. I was born in 1980. No such thing as genetic engineering then. Maybe it's not that bad.
@BenkaiDebussy
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
I feel like the applications of stuff like this will be limited to conditions with clear and obvious genetic causes, but many things influenced by genetics are very poorly understood just due to the profoundly complex interactions between genes and other genes/environment. Like if tasked with "using genetic engineering to make smarter people," we'd have no idea how to do this.
@jesuscano6697
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
It’s a double edge sword because the only way to perfect the practice is by trial and error and obviously it’s a big impact considering the losses , but everyday we are gambling with an unwanted gene expression or a defect within our genome so it just depends how you look at it … eventually we all want desired traits if we want to surpass the speed from its normal natural selection process
@devina.2238
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
Between this an AI humans seem to love playing God. This will ultimitely backfire
@alucardsomer
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
Could this help with Huntingtons?
@SCOTTDENTONunatco
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
Why are you wearing a mask outside. On a farm
@limabravo6065
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
Curing disease, birth defects, blindness, deafness, cognitive impairments, are all good things and should be pursued. Altering genes for cosmetic reasons, like making your kid taller, have a certain color of eyes, or increasing physical strength, should be prohibited before its even possible. And things like deafness or blindness are disabilities whether that woman or those like her think so, and the idea that she would subject another generation to endure that disability, seems less like "oh look at our beautiful culture" and more like misery loving company. I was born color blind and it's prohibited me from being able to do certain things and had their been a way to identify and fix that while I was developing and my folks didn't do it because we come from a long line of people who can't differentiate colors, to say id be pissed would vastly understate how I'd have reacted
@blackdiamondnews63
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
I'm sure the rich will use this tech to make themselves richer.
@Silvertestrun
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
Ty
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