The table talk on genetic engineering was really interesting. We talked about the benefits of genetic engineering to everything from research to medical treatments. I really liked to hear about precursors to the revolutionary CRISPR method of genetic engineering and why they were less efficient and cost effective. Since I have just been getting into and learning about these kinds of techniques in the past year, it was interesting to hear firsthand about how CRISPR has really transformed the field in a way that wasn’t obvious to me. It was also great to hear about some of the possible ethical hazards of this kind of work. While right now, the high fatality rate of organisms developed using CRISPR has been to prohibitive to use extensively on humans, it’s interesting to think how it might be applied in the future, and the huge ethical problems of being able to effectively buy your way out of having a genetic problem or disease. Overall, it’s great to take stock of how amazing CRISPR and other forms of genetic engineering are and how crazy it is to live in a time when such things are possible.