We Are All Secret Superheroes, And This Man Is Tracking Genes That Could Unlock Our Superpowers
Harvard geneticist George Church has made a name for himself recently for his plan to resurrect the woolly mammoth, but now he has another project in the works that looks exciting. He¡¯s tracking genetic mutations that could give people superpowers.
Harvard geneticist George Church has made a name for himself recently for his plan to resurrect the woolly mammoth, but now he has another project in the works that looks exciting.
He's tracking genetic mutations that could give people superpowers.
Harvard professor and Nebula Genomics co-founder George Church - Nebula Genomics/Medium
It's a fairly simply spreadsheet the scientist has shared online, and incorporates a variety of recent studies that studied genetic mutations and alterations. Each of these also have an entry for the positive effects the invoke in a person's physiology, as well as any negative drawbacks.
For example, the LRP5 gene could give you extra-strong bones like David Dunn from the Bruce Willis movie 'Unbreakable'. The downside is, you probably wouldn't be able to float anymore, or maybe even swim.
Fox
Similarly, the ABCC11 gene is capable of giving you the hilarious 'Low Odour Production' which means your armpits smell fine no matter how much you sweat. Still others give you a resistance to disease or a greater ability to hold your breath underwater.
Let's be clear though, none of this is by any means an exact science just yet. Geneticist themselves will tell you that genes very rarely (if ever) affect just one thing. Mutating a single gene could result in cascading changes that alter 10 other things. That's why most scientists are just happy to study these cause and effect changes and not experiment on humans using them.
However, thanks to CRISPR, we do already have the technology needed to effect these genetic mutations in humans. So this spreadsheet then is a bit of a glimpse into a future where gene editing is unregulated. This is exactly the sort of resource you would be perusing for instance if you were making a designer baby.
It's still unclear if Church's study is a sort of reference sheet for himself or merely a jokey side project. But either way the large number of blank entries, especially in the drawbacks sections, shows just how little we yet know about genes.
And yes, anyone with these genetic changes artificially effected would technically be a mutant, and therefore admissible into Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters.
