Last year, biotech startup Minicircle began recruiting participants for a gene therapy clinical trial. But some details made it unusual. First, it instructed potential guinea pigs to purchase NFTs to participate before being paid in cryptocurrency. Another is that it will take place in what is essentially an experimental crypto-city – Prospero, Honduras.
It is against this unusual background that Minicircle is trying to bring biohacking into the mainstream – exploring gene therapy techniques to target such familiar diseases as muscular dystrophy, HIV, low testosterone and obesity.
But medical ethics experts are less enthusiastic — and concerned about how the trials will go and what they could mean for the burgeoning and sometimes unscrupulous medical tourism industry. Read the story in its entirety.
—Laurie Clark
The Supreme Court may be redefining how you live online
Recommendation algorithms sort through much of what we see online and determine how the posts, news articles, and accounts you follow are prioritized across digital platforms. Now they’re at the center of a landmark court case that could end up completely changing our lives online.
Next week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Gonzalez v. Google, which examines allegations that Google violated the Anti-Terrorism Act when YouTube recommendations promoted ISIS content. This is the first time the court will consider a legal provision called Section 230, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Read the story in its entirety.
