Sissi Li (9) | STAFF REPORTER
On November 25, 2018, two new voices joined the chorus of newborn babies of this world. They were the perfectly healthy twins Lulu and Nana. There was only one difference: the two baby girls are completely immune to HIV/AIDS. While they were still in their mother’s womb, scientist He JianKui and his team used the gene-editing technology CRISPR to cut out CCR5, the gene responsible for infection from HIV. Thus, the first-ever genetically modified babies were born. Of course, this caused an uproar in the science and medicine community and the Chinese scientist was heavily attacked for violating medical conventions and disregarding the safety and health of his patients. However, many more regarded this as an inevitable first step heralding the dawn of a new era. read more