How to Control the Incredible Promise and Profound Power of Gene Drive Technology

Cutting-Edge Genetic Research That Could Lead to Species Extinction Should Be Handled With Care

From ancient soothsayers to Wall Street stock pickers, humans have always yearned to be able to tell the future. The ability, needless to say, has mostly been overstated.

But what if there was a sense in which you really could tell the future? And what if we could also make a particular outcome more likely, even certain? The emerging technology known as gene drives offers just such a prospect for favoring particular traits in future plants and animals—to increase agricultural output, to reduce the risk of infectious disease transmission, or …

Getting to Love Hitler and Zooey Deschanel’s TV Show

Slate Takes Its Culture Gabfest to Los Angeles

How true does a good story need to be? And should you bring your toddler to The Hunger Games? These questions and others were the subject of discussion as actress …

What’s Not Hot

Some Trends of 2012 That Ought to Be Over

 

We haven’t been dancing the Lambada in 2012, nor have we been wearing double-breasted suits, nor have we been obsessing over vampires. But we’ve still been doing a lot of …