While CRISPR, Gene Knockout Kit (GKO), and cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) may be acronyms unknown to the larger computer science (CS) community, they are well known in genetic engineering research. Software and hardware are extending and changing the way biologists work. Understanding the functioning of proteins and cells, and modifying them to make better products, is facilitated by gene editing programs such as CRISPR and GKO, and by new microscopes able to show images at the atomic level, such as Cryo-EM microscopes.

Today, the few providers of gene editing software offer their programs at a minimal cost, while the needed hardware, such as a Cryo-EM microscope, has a cost affordable only by big institutions.

The paper underlines the positive results, for instance, the possibility to recombine deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) to produce anything, as well as the challenges. The recombined molecules can behave differently from what was planned, making gene editing in medicine still unacceptable.

Written by a journalist, this short paper is pleasant to read and has an effective and direct style, for example, it explains technical aspects in simple sentences. It gives much helpful information, reports research opinions, and envisages a bright future for gene editing technology, but gives few answers to the real future of genetic engineering. Who is in charge of evaluating the ethics? What are the economic driving forces? And finally, are there risks in creating a plethora of gene edited living things?