Published on December 17, 2025 at 12:12 pm

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• Written by Sarah Johnson

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The CRISPR genetic scissors both inspire hope and fear given their potential to revolutionize the world. This powerful genetic engineering tool is bound to capture everyone’s attention, and here’s why.

Restoring Cognitive Functions

Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, that’s what CRISPR stands for. The immense potential of these genetic scissors suggests a significant future impact globally on health and agriculture. Predicting the effects of CRISPR is complex, and a 2018 study indicated it could cause unintended DNA mutations.

However, these mutations could potentially influence the brain, according to Alcino J. Silva from the University of California, Los Angeles (USA). This was highlighted in a study published by the journal Cell on February 21, 2019, conducted in collaboration with researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel). The research suggests that deactivating the CCR5 gene in individuals who have suffered a stroke or brain injury could help in their recovery.

Genetically Modified Chinese Babies

In November 2018, researcher He Jiankui from Shenzhen University (China) announced he had altered the DNA of twin newborns to make them resistant to certain diseases, including AIDS. Among the modified genes was the well-known CCR5. This was undoubtedly a controversial experiment, especially since it likely marked China’s creation of genetically modified humans without any international consensus on the matter.

Alcino J. Silva stated that deactivating the CCR5 gene in these Chinese babies probably impacted their brains, possibly affecting their cognitive functions and memory capabilities. Such effects had been observed in mouse experiments in previous studies. He also emphasized having no evidence of any “improvement” in the brains of the babies and mentioned it was nearly impossible to predict how altering their genes would affect their everyday brain function. In fact, the best way to learn more about this subject is to observe these children as they grow.

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Stephen Hawking’s Warning Before His Death

In his last collection of essays published in October 2018, the late Stephen Hawking expressed concerns about the human ability to “manage” advancements in genetics:

“We are now entering a new phase of what might be called self-designed evolution, where we can alter and improve our DNA. We have now mapped the DNA, which means we have read ‘the book of life.’ We can then begin to make corrections.

I am certain that during this century, people will discover how to modify both intelligence and instincts such as aggression. Laws will likely be enacted against human genetic engineering, but some people will not resist the temptation to enhance human characteristics, such as memory size, disease resistance, and lifespan.

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Once such superhumans appear, significant political problems will arise with unenhanced humans, who will not be able to compete. Presumably, they will die out or become insignificant. Instead, there will be a race of self-improving beings who will advance at an ever-increasing rate.”

Sources: MIT Technology Review – Digital Century