So far, only nine centers across the US are currently offering Casgevy, which may limit who gets access to it. Vertex says the number of participating sites will grow in the coming weeks and months. And despite the promise of a pain-free future, the grueling process of getting Casgevy may be a deterrent for some. … Read more
The biggest fight of the generative AI revolution is headed to the courtroom—and no, it’s not about the latest boardroom drama at OpenAI. Book authors, artists, and coders are challenging the practice of teaching AI models to replicate their skills using their own work as a training manual. The debate centers on the billions of … Read more
Hoffman and others said that there’s no need to pause development of AI. He called that drastic measure, for which some AI researchers have petitioned, foolish and destructive. Hoffman identified himself as a rational “accelerationist”—someone who knows to slow down when driving around a corner but that, presumably, is happy to speed up when the … Read more
It’s been a monumental year for Crispr, the molecular tool scientists use to edit genetic material. This November, the United Kingdom authorized the first medical treatment using Crispr gene editing, giving people with sickle cell disease new opportunities to receive a one-time therapy to prevent episodes of terrible pain. This week, the US Food and … Read more
30 years ago, the founding editors of WIRED knew that technology would change our world, but they likely had no idea how it would be transformed. They had no idea that in a few short years, all of us would be seamlessly interconnected, capable of communicating and working together in real-time, carrying tiny supercomputers in … Read more
Josh Miller laughs a few minutes into our conversation and admits that he almost declined today’s interview about The Browser Company. The young CEO is jetlagged from a flight to Paris but appears comfortable over Zoom and eager to talk about Arc, his company’s new AI-fortified web browser. So, what’s the reason for his hesitancy? … Read more
The future can look pretty bleak. Climate catastrophes, new diseases, crumbling infrastructure, wealth inequality, cyber risks, geopolitical conflicts, and threats to democracy around the globe are just some of the things now shaking people’s confidence in a better tomorrow. But human ingenuity is always a cause for hope, and every generation brings new thinkers, activists, … Read more
To work better than current formulas, a superior vaccine would need to anticipate the genetic drift of mutation and protect against more strains than circulate in a single season, plus confer protection for more than a handful of months. In a research agenda it first set in 2018, the NIH defined the goal of a … Read more
Government projects aimed at tackling poverty in Brazil don’t typically involve low-income communities, a fact acknowledged by the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, at an event in the Dreams favela in July. “We don’t know how to solve [the issues faced by favelas] nor have any idea of where to start”, de Freitas … Read more