Once again: the genes of human reproductive cells have been modified and embryos are grown from them.

At the time of writing this text, the details of the work are not known, so it cannot be said how far the experiment has gone. Has the mother's embryo been transplanted and will the first genetically modified human appear soon? Has its development been halted in vitro? What genes have been edited?

The answer to the first question is: almost guaranteed "no", but the purpose of the experiments is precisely such that in the near future - not in decades, but in years - genetic modification of people will become a reality.

So far, it is known that the experiments were carried out by Chinese scientists, but one should not think that this is a single act or a newspaper duck. Many laboratories and groups work on the same subject. In March, an investigation by Antonio Regalado was published in the Journal of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the heading "Constructing the Perfect Baby." (For reference: MIT is one of the most prestigious scientific institutions, only 63 people came out of Nobel laureates, many times more than, for example, from Russia.) The author talks in detail about large-scale work to correct and improve the genomes of animals and humans: Boston, Harvard , Cambridge, Massachusetts, UK, China… The best laboratories, private companies with huge budgets…

Molecular biology has been moving towards this for a long time. Techniques have been perfected for decades, students have been taught about genetic therapy for decades. It seemed that this was a matter of the future: we have been talking for a long time, but there is still no therapy. But in 2012, CRISPR technology appears - remember this abbreviation, you may happen to use it in practice.

The technology is simple as an ax, cheap, any student with laboratory skills can apply it. This is a molecular system of bacterial origin that recognizes a given section of DNA and edits it: you can cut out unnecessary nucleotides, insert the necessary ones, activate or suppress the work of a particular gene. In the first eight months, these possibilities were demonstrated on a variety of objects, including human cells. Not even three years had passed before the embryos began to work. It is clear why: until now, molecular biologists have not had a tool of such selectivity and efficiency.

The first targets are genetic diseases. We take an egg from a woman, fix the gene in the laboratory, conduct artificial insemination we plant the mother's embryo. Is born healthy child, and all subsequent generations are spared from hereditary ailments. It is fair to say that there are few diseases associated with certain genes, but there are a lot of disease predisposition genes. Who refuses to correct them?

While the technology is in its infancy, because there are problems. But given the explosive development of stem cell techniques, it can be assumed that these problems will be solved within a few years. Further - with all the obviousness - more: orders to improve abilities (who doesn't want a child to be healthy, strong, beautiful and smart?), And a little later, new unusual features up to the wings behind his back. Did you order an angel? Positive eugenics at its best.

But suddenly, a few days after the publication of Antonio Regalado in Nature, an article by several leading experts in this field appears calling for an indefinite cessation of work with human reproductive cells. The logic is simple: firstly, the technology is not developed even on animals, and secondly, we do not know the consequences. What will happen in ten years with the "edited" person? What about his offspring? Sometime in the foreseeable future, we will figure it out. But what we will probably never figure out is the evolutionary consequences of the genetic revolution. What will happen to the human race?

In January, one of the authors of the CRISPR method, Jennifer Doudna, gathered two dozen specialists in California who were concerned about the pace of work. 88-year-old Paul Berg came to the meeting, Nobel laureate, who organized the historic Asilomar Conference of 1975. Then scientists developed common standards for genetic engineering. Will it work now?

The future, as always, came at the wrong time, and, as always, we are not ready for it.

In the future, rich people will be able to make changes to the macromolecules responsible for the implementation of the genetic program, the scientist noted in his latest book, which will be published on October 16.

English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who died seven months ago at the age of 76, predicted the emergence of superhumans with altered DNA in the future, which could become a real threat to humanity. According to The Sunday Times on Sunday, Hawking's fear is contained in his latest book, which will be published on October 16.

In his work entitled "Short Answers to Serious Questions," the physicist suggested that rich people would be able to make changes in the macromolecules responsible for the implementation of the genetic program in a fairly short term. By modifying their DNA and their children, Hawking wrote, they could improve their memory, disease resistance, life expectancy, and increase their intelligence.

"I am sure that during this century people will discover the possibility of modifying as their own intellectual ability, and instincts, for example, aggression, - the scientist writes in the book, excerpts from which the publication cites. -Perhaps laws will be passed against genetic engineering on humans, but some will not be able to resist the temptation to improve human characteristics such as memory, disease resistance, life expectancy."

Such a development of the situation, the scientist feared, carries risks for those people who will not undergo improvement at the genetic level. "The appearance of superhumans will immediately lead to serious political problems with unimproved people who will not be able to compete with them. Apparently, they will die out or become insignificant. Instead, we will get a race of people who design themselves, improving more and more ", the theoretical physicist suggested.

Genetically modified people will have an IQ of 1000 or more

Genetically modified people can have an IQ of 1000 or more. At least according to scientific theory Professor Stephen Hsu.

Hsu can be considered a deep polymath. His work covers quantum physics, dark energy, finance, information security, genomics, and bioinformatics. He is officially Vice President for Research at Michigan State University, where he holds the Department of Theoretical Physics.

Professor Hsu believes that by changing the human genome, it is possible to dramatically increase its intellectual abilities. Detailed description theory is given in ArXiv e-prints. Her popular exposition is given by Nautilus.

The possibility of superintelligence is a direct result of the genetic basis of intelligence. Thousands of genes control characteristics such as height and cognition, each with its own small effect, writes Hsu.

Drawing on previous genome research, Hsu believes there are about 10,000 genetic variants associated with intelligence. If, by tweaking each of them, we manage to get the right version, then, according to him, we can create human beings with an indicator mental development 100 times higher than average. This equates to an IQ of over 1000.

Hsu is a scientific advisor to BGI (formerly Beijing Genomics Institute) and also a founding member of its Cognitive Genomics Laboratory. Last year, BGI was rumored to be sequencing the genomes of 2,000 of the world's most smart people planets in order to bring out a superintelligent generation that can raise the IQ of the nation.

Hsu and BGI aren't the only ones predicting the emergence of superintelligence through genetic enhancements. In his recently published book Superintelligence, Nick Bostrom, director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford, agrees that genetics is the key to superintelligent humans. Pre-implantation genetic screening of embryos could help parents find and select embryos with alleles associated with high intelligence. Bostrom hopes that further development genetic engineering will make it possible to synthesize genomes into a specification, which will greatly simplify the task.

According to Bostrom, in the future, the technology will allow the embryo to be endowed with a preferred combination of genes transmitted from each parent and genes not inherent in them, which only a small number of people in the world have. Such a mix can have a serious positive effect on the cognitive abilities of children.

Hsu believes that in this way it is possible to develop abilities higher than any of the 100 billion people who have ever lived on Earth:

Imagine that the abilities of the greatest minds of mankind in their maximum form will be present in one individual. These are near-perfect reproduction of images and speech, ultra-fast thinking and calculations, strong geometric visualization, even in higher dimensions; the ability to simultaneously and simultaneously solve many analytical and mental problems. This list goes on.

The prospect that “superhumans”, whose greatness was so praised by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in his work “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, will live on the same planet with ordinary people, is frightening. There are relevant moral issues that need to be addressed before such possibilities become a reality.

Some countries may legalize the genetic modification of children before others. Obviously, the elite will be the first to gain access to the technology, which will be able to endow themselves and their children with superintelligence. But let's hope that everyone will be able to use the fruits of genetic engineering, otherwise we will face such inequality, which has never been in the history of mankind.

What is he, the "man of the future" - a genetically modified person?

The US National Academy of Sciences has announced that it will soon begin work on changing the human genome.

What threatens such a scientific breakthrough?

Science is no longer just moving by leaps and bounds, it is moving at the speed of time. Who among us could have imagined at least 10 years ago that it would soon be possible to overcome any disease by changing the human genome. This could only be seen in science fiction films! - TODAY THIS IS A REALITY!!!

For many years scientists different countries fought over the human genome. And so, on May 21, 2010, Craig Venter, an American scientist, a geneticist, announced the creation of an artificial cell. It was a breakthrough in genetic engineering. And after only 7 years, scientists say they are ready to create a genetically modified person.

According to scientists, in this way they will be able to overcome any disease.

In the USA, these works have become possible in relation to people with HIV, cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

According to the message National Academy sciences of the United States, we are not talking about the creation of people with exceptional capabilities.

But experiments on humans and animals are already underway around the world:

In China, they created genetically modified pigs by introducing 3 human genes to them. And now a pig's heart or lung can be transplanted to a person without fear of rejection
In the United States and Thailand, gene vaccines are already widely used - they prevent cardiovascular disease and glaucoma.
Many large pharmaceutical companies have begun to shut down chemical research projects, redirecting funds to genetic engineering.

What genes can be introduced into a person to make him perfect?

According to scientists, the human body is not so perfect that with the help of genetic engineering, new horizons can open up to a person:

• Spotted shark gene. Immunity against all human diseases, including cancer


• Peregrine falcon gene. Human visual acuity can increase 15 times!


• cat gene. Expands the range of human hearing by 6 times (from 10 to 60 Hz)


• The gene of a butterfly of the family Saturniidae (peacock-eye), reports newsli.ru. Increases a person's sense of smell by 50 times


• rabbit gene. A person will never have a toothache, and they will grow all his life


• Danio rerio aquarium fish gene. Human internal organs and tissues will be regenerated


• Pig gene. A person will be able to experience an orgasm within 30 minutes


• turtle gene. A person can overcome old age

And much more…

But, as always, it's a double-edged sword. After all, this can be used not only for treatment, but also for controlling people, implanting in them from birth the genes of weak-willed and weak-willed... Prone to violence and murder... Not feeling pain and fear... - UNIVERSAL SOLDIERS!

What is the name of this individual mammal? - is it a person?

Meanwhile: The world's first genetically modified person - Elizabeth Parrish

The idea of ​​eternal youth, or at least a longer and healthy life worried mankind at all stages of the development of civilization. Scientists have always been interested in the possibility of increasing human life expectancy, and that's when advances in the field proper nutrition and active lifestyles were exhausted, they turned their gaze towards genetic changes.

When we see stories about geneticists conducting experiments on laboratory animals, changing the genome, for example, in order to slow down cell aging, it seems to us that all this is from the realm of fantasy and the distant future. But it turns out that fantasy has become reality. A man with artificially altered genes already lives on Earth.

This is American Elizabeth Parrish, who agreed to the intervention of geneticists in order to stop the aging of her body, and, of course, to benefit the world.

In fact, she is also one of the leaders of the scientific and medical company BioViva, which is conducting this bold experiment.

To understand the essence of artificial changes, it is necessary to shed some light on the problem of aging from the point of view of genetics. The aging process itself is embedded in our DNA, and it begins with the process of reducing the terminal processes of chromosomes, the so-called telomeres.

The older the biological age of a person, the shorter his telomeres. In the process of cell growth, DNA division occurs, which is accompanied by shortening of telomeres and ultimately leads to aging and cell death.

At the end of 2015, Elizabeth Parrish was injected with genetic material that, having penetrated the nucleus of every cell in her body, was supposed to trigger changes and increase the length of telomeres. Thus, according to scientists, the aging process will be stopped and a general rejuvenation of the body will occur.

Taking into account the fact that the results of such an experiment can be the most unpredictable, even fatal, Elizabeth even recorded an appeal in which she confirmed her consent to the injection and voiced her understanding of the seriousness of the genetic intervention. For the introduction of genetic material, she even had to go to Colombia, since in the United States such experiments with people are prohibited by law.

And now scientists have already published the first results of the experiment. So far, everything looks more than optimistic: the biological age of a woman has decreased by about 20 years. This is expressed in the state of her white blood cells, as well as in the telomeres of the chromosomes, which have lengthened instead of being further broken down.

The appearance of the 45-year-old woman has also undergone some changes. Her skin became firmer and her hair condition improved.

Video: GMO mutants biorobots already a reality. X-Men are not fiction. The wonders of genetics and genetic engineering

© Photo from the personal archive of Alexander Lavrin

It is quite possible to return the bygone youth and stop aging: for this you need to change your genetic code and become a genetically modified person. This conclusion was reached by scientists in the United States, who swung at the experiment, which took place for the first time in the history of mankind. And as a first step, genetic material was injected into the vein of a volunteer participant in this study, 44-year-old American Elizabeth Parrish, a biotechnologist by profession and the head of a scientific medical company.

As conceived by the experimenters, the new genome must penetrate into the nucleus of each cell and start irreversible processes there that stop aging and rejuvenate the body. Thus, the authors of the study want, as far as possible, to achieve the effect of "eternal youth" and turn off the aging program in DNA. “This is an attempt to turn back the biological clock by interfering with the structure of the human genome,” say scientists who hope that in the future all young people will use their method - on the principle of vaccination, which is done once in a lifetime.

In the meantime, several years ago, other American scientists announced that they were ready to create a genetically modified mutant human, consisting of the genes of 11 animals and insects. “The human genome can and should be changed,” they say. “For example, to “plant” an astronaut with a gene from a bacterium that can withstand radiation levels 7 times higher than the lethal one ...”.

What is all this fraught with, and what are the chances of success? He expressed his opinion about this to Rosbalt within the framework of the project "The Better Half of Life" Alexander Lavrin, writer, playwright, author of 16 fiction and documentary books, including the folklore study “Chronicles of Charon. Encyclopedia of death.

- Alexander Pavlovich, there is an opinion that attempts to regain eternal youth are the pursuit of a ghost. They say that our biological clock is ticking inside, and when the factory in them ends, or the batteries run out, nothing can be done about it ...

In the body there is not one program of aging and dying, but several. It's like in a minefield - if the first mine does not work, then another or third one will explode. Nature deliberately set such a limiter so that living beings, including humans, could not become immortal. The aging program was inscribed in our genetic information in order to reduce the intraspecific intensity of the struggle for survival and provide a habitat for new organisms with a changed genetic code. That is, even if you have lived up to 120 years, sooner or later this mine will still work, the “time bomb” will explode ... These are all attempts to deceive nature. And she's not that stupid.

- Do they have any chance of success? Can you reverse your biological time?

You can’t turn back, but, most likely, it is possible to slow down the aging process. Even without such experiences, due to the fact that medicine is developing, new effective drugs and stimulants are appearing, people in developed countries are living longer. In the USA, Israel, Germany, the average life expectancy has increased by as much as 40 years since 1900!

- But you yourself emphasized that this is not due to interference in genetics ...

Interventions in the genome, even if they succeed, are unlikely to give humanity anything more than a new brainchild of Frankenstein - albeit with a likely immunity to any disease and an unlimited shelf life. People around the world are against genetically modified foods, and here we are offered a genetically modified person. What will become of him, how and why will he live? Yes, and will it? So far, there is no real evidence of this. This is just one of the extravagant theories of rejuvenation, but clinically, on a person, it has not been confirmed.

On the other hand, it is understandable why scientists still go for such experimentation, despite the risks and prohibitions. Them the main objective- victory over old age. If they manage to infiltrate the genome and correct the course of the biological clock of the cell, then metabolism and puberty will slow down, and the response rate of brain neurons, on the contrary, will increase, which means that memory volumes will also increase.

- How does such an experiment threaten its voluntary participant? How much risk is she taking? And what negative consequences can there be from a radical intervention in the genetic nature of a person?

There may be pathologies that are currently impossible to foresee. When you tamper with DNA without asking, you are, of course, unable to foresee everything. It is possible that the brave American will achieve a general (and probably temporary) improvement in her well-being, but at the same time she will damage some other mechanism that regulates vital processes - that is, she will break, so to speak, "an organism in the body." Of course, we have already thoroughly studied the human genome, but we still do not know how to “repair” it. A clear example: a master watchmaker, say, is able to disassemble the mechanism of a stopped watch, clean it, replace a couple of parts, and the watch will start working again. But with the biological clock in humans, this is not yet possible.

That is, experiments on the introduction of certain substances or elements of a foreign genome into a cell, of course, are being carried out, but there is no evidence that the same can be done with all cells of the body. The problem is that the cells of the brain, heart, nervous system, epidermis - very different types of "cells" for the structure and life of all organisms. Each of them needs to find its own approach. This is a task of incredible complexity, which can only be done by a huge scientific team, perhaps dozens of scientific institutes around the world. She is clearly not up to one woman. What Elizabeth Parrish is doing is good, but only good in the sense that the scientific community needs to be stirred up with “crazy” ideas from time to time.

- So after all, what affects aging more - our biological clock or lifestyle, the quality of medical care, the absence of stress?

I think it's a combination of factors. Aging is inevitable, but it can be postponed, and youth can be prolonged if a number of environmental factors are excluded.

- That is, you can’t go against nature, you can only correct it ...

Yes, you can. But not everything is in the power of man, and even of mankind as a whole. Even the founder Apple Steve Jobs or Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez could not cope with their illness. None of the best doctors, the biggest money and administrative capabilities saved them. And not only them...

In fact, only living creatures such as tapeworms are really immortal now. Here they are really capable of endlessly multiplying and dividing, and with a certain assumption, this can be perceived as immortality. All other attempts to achieve it have not brought results - neither the use of stem cells, nor cloning. Although human strength has already been spent on this problem unmeasured. The elixir of immortality, for example, has been invented for many centuries. In the 8th century Chinese Emperor Xuanzong took the “elixir of immortality” developed by his alchemists, poisoned himself with it and died. In the same China, it was believed that Taoist monks owned the secret of such a drug. According to legend, Zhang Daolang, the founder of the Tao philosophical system, allegedly made the coveted elixir, managed to regain his youth for some time and lived in the Tibet region to 122 years.

- But in the case of Elizabeth Parrish we are talking not about immortality, but only about the fight against old age and decrepitude ...

Most modern gerontologists believe that a person dies early not because of genes, but because of harmful effects external environment. That is, the species life expectancy of a person is more connected not with the genetic stock, but with the fact that most people are doomed to live in adverse conditions. The better the conditions, the longer the life. In the same United States, over the past 40 years, the number of people who have reached the age of 100 has increased by 7-8 times. Now about 62 thousand centenarians live there, whose age is more than a century. According to forecasts, one in 2,000 living Americans will live up to a hundred years, and one in 2,500 US citizens will live up to 95 years. These are very high figures.

There is no shortage of theories of rejuvenation and slowing down aging. For example, the PPG method - physically beneficial fasting. A number of scientists believe that for longevity it is necessary to remove toxins, that is, to carry out constant prevention of cleaning the body. Non-standard experiments in this area were carried out, in particular, by the biologist Suren Arakelyan, who took old Japanese chickens and “prescribed” them a 7-day course of PPG with the simultaneous administration of an anti-stress drug. The obsolete birds have changed: they have grown new feathers, the crest has disappeared, the voice has become almost chicken, the physical activity. Arakelyan did the same with cows and pigs, whose life expectancy allegedly increased 3 times.

The mechanism of this phenomenon, according to the scientist himself, looks like this: during physiologically beneficial fasting, the body, as it were, undergoes a major overhaul, during which sodium is removed from the cells, and potassium enters its place from the intercellular space. That is, just replacing one chemical element with another, similar, gives an amazing effect. The secret is that sodium salts contribute to the conservation of organic matter. With normal nutrition, all waste products in the cells are, as it were, preserved, including toxins - the main cause of aging.

By the way, it is possible that Suren Arakelyan himself also rejuvenated in the course of his experiments and therefore lived a long life - now he is 89 years old.

The largest American scientist in the field of biochemistry, crystallographer, winner of two Nobel Prizes Linus Pauling believed that the use of certain vitamin complexes also contributed to longevity. And the Russian physicist and chemist, Academician Nikolai Emanuel, having studied the characteristics of the aging of polymers, came to the conclusion that they are very similar to the signs of impending old age in living organisms. It looks like photographic film: the time comes, it becomes cloudy, loses its flexibility, cracks form.

There is more than one theory to explain the so-called "Hayflick limit (or limit)." Back in the 60s. Leonard Hayflick, an anatomy professor at the University of California, discovered the limit for the number of somatic cell divisions, which is approximately 50-52 divisions. Cells begin to show signs of aging as they approach their fifty dollars. This division number is recorded in the DNA nucleus. And, unfortunately, it cannot be changed. During the experiments, the cell nucleus, which had already divided 40 times, was transplanted into a young cell, which divided only 5-10 times. But after 10 divisions, the young cell still died ...

Scientists explain this, in particular, by the accumulation of random gene damage during cell replication. The bottom line is that with each cell division, environmental factors act: smoke, radiation, chemicals, cell decay products that interfere with the exact reproduction of DNA in the next generation. There are many enzymes in the body that monitor cell copying and troubleshoot. However, they are not able to "catch" all of them. As a result, DNA damage accumulates and leads to improper protein synthesis, and then becomes the cause of aging diseases.

But a person in this regard depends to a large extent not on genes, but on a set of his diseases. The three main diseases that cause death modern people- myocardial infarction, stroke and oncology. No matter how hard we try to modify our genes, there is no escape from these threats to health and life... The point is not only in genetically programmed cell aging, but also in the effectiveness of the cell defense system - so that cell membranes do not let certain harmful substances through, do not allow it to be destroyed earlier time.

It is possible that not genetic material should be introduced into the cell, but substances that “repair” DNA. For this, in some cases, for example, the pigment beta-carotene, vitamin complexes, the enzyme superoxide dismutase and other antioxidants are used.

- How can genetically modified individuals be dangerous for ordinary people?

Who knows? Maybe their consciousness will change, there will be problems with the psyche. In their body, new viruses can arise and be modified, before which medicine will be powerless ... In fact, a fundamentally new creature will appear, and hence new types of diseases. Remember the stories of the emergence of AIDS, bird flu, Ebola: all of a sudden, as if for no reason, they began to develop at an incredible speed, and then captured entire regions. It is the same here - along with the change in the cell, microorganisms and strains of viruses will also change. As a result, we will get a whole bunch of diseases that have not yet been known. And we may not get it. This is genetic roulette.

There is another point of view: let's say that influenza pandemics threaten humanity in the future, since this virus mutates rapidly. And given that the mutation rate of the AIDS pathogen is ten times higher, then in the future HIV will most likely acquire an airborne transmission route. To protect a person from this, a very powerful artificial immunity is needed. Without insertion into the genome, it is impossible to create it ...

- It turns out a double-edged sword: on one scale there is “eternal youth”, and on the other, alas ...

It always happens. On the one hand, they invented radical drugs - smallpox vaccinations, penicillin, antibiotics, which saved many lives. But at the same time, civilization "gives" us new types of diseases, including those that are not treated in any way and by nothing, for any money and in any of the best modern clinics - like, for example, Alzheimer's disease.

- So, by experimenting with genes, we open Pandora's box every time?

You can say so. When the human genome changes, the immune system inevitably changes as well. And it is possible that some viruses and diseases with which it has so far been coping will break this protection, and humanity will get another pandemic. So is it worth stopping time?

Interviewed by Vladimir Voskresensky

The project was implemented with a grant from St. Petersburg

The medical journal "Human Reproduction" recently published a sensational article "Mitochondria in a human baby produced by cytoplasmic transplantation."
The media put this article into intensive rotation ... for one day, after which everyone happily "forgot" about it. However, the fact remains. At present, there are children in the world who are "engineered" genetically. It sounds like science fiction, but it's true.... ..

The first known case of germline gene therapy, in which the genes of parents are manipulated in such a way as to be reflected in their children, occurred in a reproductive therapy unit in New Jersey in March 2001, when 30 healthy children were born with DNA from three people - a father, mother and an outside woman. Fifteen of them were patients of this clinic, the remaining fifteen were from other medical institutions.

Scientists have found that one of the causes of female infertility is that eggs can contain "old" mitochondria (remember that mitochondria are part of the cell that supplies it with energy). These "lazy" eggs are unable to attach themselves to the uterine wall after fertilization. To activate them, scientists introduce mitochondria from young women into the cell. The mitochondria of the cell contains the DNA of an outsider, and the born children have genetic material from three sources. The DNA of an outside woman can thus be reflected in the offspring of the female line.

The big problem is that there is no information about how such an operation affects children and their descendants. In fact, such manipulations have not been properly investigated in animals, much less in humans. Doctors say kids are healthy, but they 'forget' one thing important point. As a result of the operation, not 15, but 17 children were born. One pregnancy ended in an abortion, and the second ended in a miscarriage. Why? Two of the fetuses had a rare genetic Turner syndrome that only affects women. Under normal conditions, it occurs in one woman out of 2500 born, and consists in the absence or damage to one of the X chromosomes. Feel the difference - 1 out of 2500 or 2 out of 17!

Moreover, if we assume that 9 out of 17 fetuses were female (about 50 percent), then 2 out of 9 babies developed this rare disease. In internal medical documents, it is the genetic operation that is named as the main reason for it. Even if Turner's syndrome is not taken into account, many experts were shocked by the fact of such an operation. A response article in the same journal states: "Neither the safety nor the efficacy of this method has been clinically proven." Ruth Deech, chairman of the British Embryology Committee, told the BBC: “There is a big risk. Not only for these children, but also for future generations.”

The number of children born using this method is unknown. The article states that there are "about thirty" in 2001. To date, at least 2 of these children have reached the age of 1 year. Dr. Joseph Cummin, Professor Emeritus of Biology at the University of Western Ontario, said that no more information about these 30 children appeared in the media, nor about additional cases of such genetic intervention. The doctor claims that in Norway in 2003, similar operations were carried out in order to "correct cell disease." He summed up that "It seems that such genetically modified children are being born even now, in an atmosphere of strict secrecy and an information vacuum."

Louis Pasteur hid the results of experiments that contradicted his theory.

One of the most famous scientific controversies in history took place between those who believe that microorganisms form as a result of putrefaction. organic matter, and those who believe that they are only transferred from one surface to another by air flow. From 1850 to 1870, the famous French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur clashed with the proponents of the formation of microbes from nothing, especially Felix Pouchet.

The two camps continuously carried out experiments to confirm their theory and refute opponents. As you know, Pasteur won. Modern science has accepted the theory that micro-organisms are carried by air, and the science of their emergence from decay products has been relegated to the dustbin of ideas and declared obsolete. Few people know that Pasteur lied and won dishonestly.

It appears that some of Pasteur's experiments proved that organic foods PRODUCED life. Naturally, a few years later these experiments were declared incorrect, but at that time they only proved the correctness of their opponents. Therefore, Pasteur kept such results a secret. Historian John Waller writes: "In fact, because of his enmity with Puche, Pasteur declared in his diaries as "successful" all the experiments that were carried out to prove his theory, and all the rest as "failed."

When Pasteur's ideological opponents conducted experiments confirming their theory, Pasteur did not publicly repeat them. Once he simply refused to conduct an experiment and comment on it in any way. On another occasion, he delayed commenting for so long that his opponents were furious. Waller writes, "It is noteworthy that Pasteur declared some of the experiments to be sloppy, while at the same time he and his team were doing the same experiments, trying to get an excellent result." As Gerald Geyson's recent research into Pasteur's recordings has shown, Pasteur's team spent weeks testing Bastian's findings and trying to confirm their beliefs about the spread of microbes through the air.

Pasteur separated from his assistants and from his mentor, explaining that they did not conduct experiments scrupulously enough, while at the same time conducting experiments just as carelessly, blinded by their convictions. He was just lucky that he was more persuasive. Moreover, the evidence was not so much scientific as religious. In his notes, he constantly asserts that only God the Creator knows the mystery of creating the living from the inanimate. The possibility of the creation by man or nature of living matter without the participation of God was unconditionally rejected by him without scientific justification.

Most scientists do not read all the materials they refer to.

Any scientific work is based on the results of previous studies. As a result, scientific papers are replete with references to previous documents, creating the false impression that they have been comprehensively researched and, on this basis, made new job.

After similar errors were found in a variety of scientific materials, two researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, decided to investigate this problem. They examined several well-known scientific papers. For example, regarding one famous work related to crystals, New Scientist wrote:

They found that this work was cited 4,300 times, with all 196 errors found in the original carried over into all references and citations. 40 errors were subsequently corrected, while the remaining 156 went unnoticed in all subsequent documents.

Most likely, these researchers simply copied links from other sources without bothering to look through them, which they successfully learned in school. This shows how the principle of "Copypaste" is applicable not only to modern world Internet and communication, but also to the more ancient pre-computer time of paper publishing and communication.