A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution

A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution (2017) by Jennifer A. Doudna and Samuel H. Sternberg represents a pivotal contribution to public understanding of CRISPR gene-editing technology. Doudna, a biochemist at the University of California, Berkeley, helped pioneer CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology and received the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this work. Her co-author, Samuel H. Sternberg, conducted doctoral research in her laboratory and is now a professor at Columbia University. 

Published at a crucial moment in the development of genetic engineering, the book emerged as CRISPR technology was moving from laboratories into real-world applications, sparking urgent debates about its implications. The text combines scientific explanation with ethical reflection, as Doudna and Sternberg examine both the revolutionary potential of CRISPR to treat genetic diseases and its troubling capability to modify the human germline, potentially allowing genetic enhancements to be passed down through generations. The authors present the science behind CRISPR while grappling with profound questions about how society should manage this unprecedented power to engineer life itself.

This study guide refers to the 2017 HarperCollins ebook edition.

Note on Attribution: Although A Crack in Creation was co-authored by Jennifer A.