So, we can edit our DNA now. But should we?

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This week on TED.com October 24, 2015

Talk of the week Jennifer Doudna: We can now edit our DNA. But let's do it wisely 15:53 minutes · Filmed Sep 2015 · Posted Oct 2015 · TEDGlobal>London Jennifer Doudna is co-inventor of a groundbreaking new technology for editing genes. The tool, referred to as CRISPR-Cas9, allows scientists to make precise edits to DNA strands. It could lead to treatments for genetic diseases … but could also be used to create so-called "designer babies." Doudna clearly explains how CRISPR-Cas9 works -- and then asks the scientific community to pause and discuss the ethics of this new tool. Watch now »

Playlist of the week Talks that prove you already live in the future That crazy, sci-fi future we all imagine? It’s here. Watch » 9 TED Talks • Total run time 1:50:41

More from TED.com Cave explorer and geologist Francesco Sauro travels to the hidden continent under our feet, surveying deep, dark places inside the earth that humans have never been able to reach before. In the spectacular tepuis of South America, he finds new minerals and insects that have evolved in isolation. (And he uses his knowledge of these alien worlds to train astronauts to travel into equally isolated places.) Watch » Investigative journalist Will Potter is the only reporter who has been inside a Communications Management Unit, or CMU, within a US prison. These secret units change how prisoners are treated -- even preventing them from hugging their children. Potter, a TED Fellow, shows us who is imprisoned here, and how the government is trying to keep them hidden. "The message was clear," he says. "Don’t talk about this place." Watch » + Find sources for this talk at willpotter.com/cmu   Don't you love having access to all the information in the world? And yet, don't you kind of hate being glued to your screen all the time? Designer Tom Uglow imagines a future without screens -- in which our love for simple tools can coexist with our need for information and connection. "Reality is richer than screens," he says. "We can have a happy place filled with the information we love that feels as natural as switching on a light bulb." Watch » ICYMI: this classic TED Talk on the subject of race -- with a new lens to open the conversation. Because it can be touchy; as finance executive Mellody Hobson says, it's a "conversational third rail." But, she says, that's exactly why we need to start talking about it in smarter ways. In this engaging talk, Hobson makes the case that speaking openly about race -- and particularly about diversity in hiring -- makes for better business, better ideas and a better society. Watch »

read more about ideas on ted.com Ethics: Has a "pause" on new technology ever actually worked? » Gene editing has promise -- and peril. But is it already too late to press pause? A surprising story from science's past suggests an answer.   Living: One researcher's quest to end discrimination against single people » Bias that's so ingrained we hardly see it. Tech: Should our next-generation weapons be intelligent robots? » New autonomous weapons can use artificial intelligence to locate, track and destroy targets. That might be a problem.

Quote of the Week “ The role of a teacher is to facilitate learning. That's it. But the dominant culture of education has come to focus on not learning, but testing. So in place of curiosity, what we have is a culture of compliance. Our children and teachers are encouraged to follow routine algorithms rather than to excite their power of imagination and curiosity."   Sir Ken Robinson How to escape from education's death valley

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