Scientists at Columbia University have used a precise gene-editing tool, base editing, to make changes in three disease-linked genes in early-stage human embryos. The goal wasn’t to create pregnancies, but to test the safety and limits of rewriting DNA at the very early stages of life.

The paper, not yet peer reviewed, sparked immediate controversy. Some researchers hailed it as a technical milestone that could one day prevent devastating inherited diseases before birth. Others warned it edges society closer to the prospect of “designer babies”—an idea bioethicists have argued is akin to modern eugenics.

The debate is hardly hypothetical. The work has already attracted commercial interest. New York-based Nucleus Genomics, which screens in vitro fertilization (IVF) embryos for serious genetic disorders, has also developed predictive models for complex traits such as intelligence. The company plans to sponsor future research by study leader Dieter Egli and team.

Critics worry that even experimental advances could fuel demand from wealthy patients while encouraging companies to develop and market embryo-editing technologies, despite unresolved ethical and safety concerns.

Egli argues the findings should be public precisely because these debates are no longer academic curiosity. He has repeatedly called for scientists, regulators, and the public to weigh the pros and cons of editing human embryos. As for clinical use today, his position is unequivocal: “You can’t use it. It’s as clear as day and night,” he told Nature.

Conceptual Shift

Why edit embryos at all?

Cells in an early embryo eventually give rise to every tissue in the body. Correct a harmful mutation at the start of development, and the fix could, in theory, propagate throughout a child’s entire body—and even be passed on to future generations.

The strategy could help in genetic disorders that hamper fetal development or trigger diseases in newborns. For some developmental and metabolic conditions, intervention after birth may already be too late. Even when treatment is possible, gene editors must be able to target various organs, which is an ongoing challenge.

In various efforts, scientists have already repaired disease-causing mutations in mouse embryos and fetuses, including those linked to blood disorders. But mice aren’t humans. Early embryos from the two species repair DNA damage in fundamentally different ways, making it tough to gauge whether a strategy that works in mice will succeed, or prove safe, in people. That uncertainty has fueled interest in testing gene-editing tools directly in human embryos.

Not everyone is on board. International scientific groups have repeatedly called for a temporary ban on editing human embryos, and the practice is illegal in several countries.

That didn’t stop Chinese scientist He Jiankui. In 2018, he announced the birth of gene-edited babies after using a tool called CRISPR-Cas9, claiming the changes would protect them against HIV infection. Global outrage ensued.

By then, years of research had already highlighted CRISPR’s risk. The tool cuts both strands of DNA and relies on the body’s repair machinery to stitch them back together. But the process can go awry, introducing unintended mutations, deleting large chunks of DNA, or altering the wrong locations on the DNA strands altogether. He’s reckless experiment resulted in three years of imprisonment, although he still defends the work.

Subsequent studies only deepened concerns. In some cases, CRISPR editing in human embryos caused extensive genetic damage. In one study,  it completely destroyed the chromosome that housed the target gene.

An Imperfect Upgrade

The new study tested a next-generation gene editor designed to overcome some of CRISPR’s biggest shortcomings.

Egli and team used an approach called base editing, which rewrites individual DNA letters. Unlike CRISPR, base editing only nicks the DNA strands and is generally thought to be more precise. The technology hit a major milestone last year when it helped cure a baby with a potentially fatal genetic disorder, and earlier lab studies hinted it could also succeed in human embryos.

Working with early-stage embryos, the team edited three genes with the potential to cause illness. In each case, they converted the genetic letter A to G at precise locations. One of the genes, PCSK9, regulates “bad” cholesterol levels. Mutations are associated with a high risk of heart problems. The team’s edit was designed to switch off the gene, mirroring strategies already being explored in adults.

The other two targets, HBG1 and HBG2, control production of fetal hemoglobin, an oxygen-carrying protein. The edits made here reflected a natural protective variant that could lessen symptoms in blood disorders, such as sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia.

The team found no signs of widespread DNA damage, suggesting the tool is more precise than CRISPR. But it wasn’t perfect. Many embryos emerged as so-called genetic mosaics, with some cells carrying the intended edit and others retaining their original genetic blueprint.

That’s a huge problem. As an embryo develops, unedited cells could outcompete edited ones, leaving the disease-causing mutation largely intact. In some embryos, edited cells stopped dividing altogether.

And a lack of obvious chromosome damage doesn’t guarantee safety. The edits could still trigger harmful effects that aren’t noticeable until after birth—when it’s already too late to reverse them.

Calls for Scrutiny

Egli stresses that embryo editing is still far from being ready for the clinic. “These base editors—they can have damaging effects on the embryo. So why would you use it if you don’t fully understand that?” he told Nature.

His team is now working to reduce mosaicism and plans to test the technology in embryos that have developed to roughly 100 cells. This is when fertility clinics typically evaluate and freeze embryos.

Speaking to The New York Times, fertility expert Paula Amato at Oregon Health & Science University, who was not involved in the work, called the strategy “promising.” Genomics researcher Greg Neely at the University of Sydney in Australia also praised the work: “This will go down in history in a positive way—less reckless, more careful and ethical than previous attempts.”

Others remain deeply skeptical. Critics argue that embryo editing permanently alters the genetic inheritance of future generations, who have no say in the decision. The study’s ties to Nucleus Genomics also raised eyebrows. The company previously drew controversy for developing genetic predictions for traits such as intelligence and height and for its slogan “have your best baby.”

To Kian Sadeghi, CEO and cofounder of Nucleus, embryo editing extends that vision. The technology could help couples carrying mutations who struggle to produce enough unaffected embryos for selection during IVF.

Fyodor Urnov at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the study, isn’t convinced. IVF clinics already screen embryos for many inherited disorders without altering their DNA. Given the risks, selecting an unaffected embryo is often a safer option than rewriting its genome.

“In practical terms, therefore, this preprint will solely impact the rapidly growing movement of embryo editors for purposes of ‘baby improvement’,” he said.

That movement, once taboo, is gaining steam. Yet the traits most often cited by proponents—height, intelligence, emotional regulation—are shaped by hundreds or even thousands of genes, which scientists still don’t fully understand. Such enhancements are far beyond the reach of today’s technology. Every additional edit also increases the chance of unintended consequences.

For Egli, that’s precisely why the research should be discussed openly. “Research is necessary to provide information to discourage the wrong use of a technology,” he said.

The post Precise Gene Editing in Early Human Embryos Reignites the ‘Designer Baby’ Debate appeared first on SingularityHub.

Exploring the moon’s surface lays crucial groundwork for future crewed settlements, and swarms of tiny robots could be the key. Now researchers have given the first demonstration of the idea after a palm-sized rover autonomously navigated the moon and transmitted images back to Earth.

The moon is a tough environment for robots. Its surface is strewn with craters and abrasive moon dust, and communication delays make remotely piloting vehicles a painstaking and risky process. The cost of launching and landing hardware and the real prospect of losing expensive equipment justifies an extremely cautious approach that can significantly slow down exploration.

One way around these challenges is to replace traditional rovers with many small, cheap, and hardy robot explorers, which could increase coverage and introduce redundancy. And now Japan’s space agency JAXA has given us the first compelling demonstration of the approach.

In a paper published in Science Robotics, JAXA researchers provide a technical report detailing the successful deployment of the agency’s LEV-2 robot during the its SLIM mission, which touched down near the Shioli crater in January 2024. LEV-2 is a three-inch-wide sphere that converts into a wheeled robot after landing. The robot operated autonomously for more than 100 minutes, covering an estimated 24 meters and relaying a series of images back to Earth.

“Although the capabilities of an individual small rover are inherently limited, the results highlight the potential of such platforms as independent explorers, capable of accessing environments beyond the reach of a primary large spacecraft,” the authors write.

Nicknamed SORA-Q—derived from the Japanese words for space and sphere—the robot weighs just eight ounces. Upon arrival, the shiny metal sphere splits open and expands horizontally, allowing its two hemispheres to become wheels that spin around a central shaft. This central area also features a front-facing camera and a tail to help stabilize the robot.

JAXA developed the device in partnership with Sony and toymaker TOMY. The design borrows directly from technology used in transformer toys that convert from vehicles into robots. But the team had to make considerable modifications to account for the harsh lunar environment.

One of the biggest challenges for any lunar robot is maneuvering in the dust, or regolith, that coats the moon’s surface. The fine, powdery material can be hard for smaller wheeled robots to navigate as they lack the traction of their larger counterparts.

To solve this problem, the team designed the wheels to rotate around a point slightly offset from their center, causing a lopsided spinning motion that lifts the rover up slightly on every rotation. This helps the wheels to dig into the surface and generate enough traction to keep moving in the loose regolith.

Communication delays also present a significant barrier to smooth operation, so the team engineered the robot to handle most operations autonomously. An onboard image-processing system allowed the rover to detect the SLIM lander in its camera feed and use this as a navigational reference point, estimating its own position relative to the spacecraft in real time.

Because of its diminutive size, it was impractical to give SORA-Q the equipment needed to communicate directly with Earth, so the team paired it with a hopping robot called LEV-1 that can transmit data. Power constraints and narrow communication windows still cap the amount of data the robot can send to Earth, so SORA-Q has an onboard image-processing algorithm that picks out the best photos to share.

Due to power and mass constraints, the team fitted the robot with a low-power chip designed for small devices rather than complex tasks like image processing. The algorithm relies on a very simple approach—it detects the SLIM lander’s distinctive gold insulating material and then picks the photos where this is featured prominently in the frame.

Around seven minutes after activation, the rover had moved roughly five meters from the lander, selected the two best images from 12 it had captured, and transmitted them to LEV-1. One of those images actually proved unexpectedly useful as it showed the lander had landed at an odd angle with its solar panels facing the wrong direction. This gave ground teams critical information that helped them diagnose the spacecraft’s operational status.

But the system wasn’t flawless. It lost some data in transmission, partly because LEV-1’s hopping maneuvers appeared to disrupt the wireless link and partly due to changing antenna orientations as the rover moved. The team also lost telemetry data before the mission ended, making it impossible to determine exactly how far the rover ultimately traveled or when it stopped working.

Still, the mission was strong evidence that small, cheap vehicles like SORA-Q could greatly expand the scope of robotic exploration. That could prove invaluable as we attempt to scope out promising locations for future scientific missions or even permanent bases on the moon.

The post Japan Thinks Swarms of Transformer Robots Could Explore the Moon appeared first on SingularityHub.