Designer Babies – Like It Or Not, Here They Come

Long before Watson and Crick famously uncovered the structure of DNA in 1953, people envisioned with both horror and hope a day when babies could be custom designed -- free of inherited disease, yet equipped with superior genes for good looks, intelligence, athleticism, and more. Now the beginnings of the day of designer babies have finally come. The Fertility Institutes recently stunned the fertility community by being the first company to boldly offer couples the opportunity to screen their embryos not only for diseases and gender, but also for completely benign characteristics such as eye color, hair color, and complexion. The Fertility Institutes proudly claims this is just the tip of the iceberg, and plans to offer almost any conceivable customization as science makes them available. Take the case of Cindy and John Whitley. Yet PGD allows scientists to screen embryos for much more than just genetic diseases, and therein lies the promise - and the peril - of designer babies.

Genetics Medicine The Matternet: A Flying Autonomous Delivery System For The Developing World Nearly one billion people in rural areas live without access to all-season roads--meaning a large portion of the world's population can't get medication, food, and other supplies when they need them. The Matternet, a concept created by a group of students in this summer's class at Singularity University, aims to leapfrog road-based transportation altogether with a network of electric autonomous aerial vehicles (AAVs) in the developing world that transports supplies and people from place to place. Think of it as the Jetsons meets Mother Theresa. The Matternet concept was designed by a motley crew of entrepreneurs, engineers, hackers, and more--all of whom were challenged during Singularity University to solve a big problem related to world poverty (other groups focused on space, energy, education, security, and global health). The Matternet is being developed in three stages. This isn't just a pipe dream. [Images: Courtesy of CyberTechnology (WA) Pty/Ltd.] Follow @fastcompany.

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