Hi, it's Michael. Every day you listen to us. Now we want to hear from you. We're asking you to

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slash the daily survey. And thank you. From the New York Times on Michael Barbarale, this is the daily.

Today, ever since scientists created the powerful gene editing technique known as CRISPR,

they have braced for the day when it would be used to create a genetically altered human

gene. What's likely to happen now that it apparently has? And the latest on a possible

government shutdown. It's Wednesday, December 19th.

Like every family, my family has its share of messed up genes. We have autoimmune diseases,

we have cancer, we have conditions that are so obscure, they are known only by their weird

acronyms. And usually when you are walking around in the world, you are not thinking about this very

much. But the second that you decide to have a kid, of course, you do. Jen senior is a columnist at

the times. It's exactly what you're thinking about. All of these potential unwanted genetic

inheritances that you might pass along. So when I first heard about this technology several years ago

called CRISPR, I describe it as surgery for the cell. I was of course intrigued. You know,

it's sort of making precise changes to the code of life. Scientists say it could someday eliminate

inherited diseases. Because here was a way that you could potentially individually slice out all

of these culprit genes from your DNA. Means that we can control human evolution now, essentially

anything that is alive, we can manipulate the script. But of course, as a journalist and a skeptical

consumer of the news, I also understood all the concern. It opens the door to designer babies.

Many scientists, including CRISPR's developer Jennifer Daudner, are calling for a moratorium

on its use in humans. The technology was new. It was crude. And are we wise enough to tame ourselves

...