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In 2020, scientists made global headlines by creating “xenobots” – tiny “programmable” living things made of several thousand frog stem cells. Authors
Kriegman et al./PNAS In 2020, scientists made global headlines by creating “xenobots” – tiny “
Scientists have created tiny self-replicating organisms made from frog stem cells. So is this as much of a Pandora’s Box as it sounds? Not yet, but we should carefully weigh the risks and rewards.
Economy, finance, and budgets Are all the significant inventions already achieved? Economist Robert Gordon identified five Great Inventions, whose discovery in the late nineteenth century powered what he deems an unrepeatable burst of economic growth between 1920 and 1970. These inventions—electrification, the internal combustion engine, chemistry, telecommunications, and indoor plumbing—were indeed far more significant than what often passes for innovation today. While some recent IT breakthroughs are important, no number of Snapchat filters can hold a candle to—well, not needing to us...