Communication about genetic editing CRISPR, between optimism and false expectations

Abstract

Communication is essential in all areas of society, but communication in science is inescapable. Communicating means sharing, showing, teaching, and transferring knowledge about discoveries, observations, and findings both to colleagues and to society in general. That is why good communication must always accompany good science. CRISPR genetic editing tools allow us to modify, at will, the genome of any living organism, including our own species. In this text I review the different relevant communicative events in the short but intense life of these «molecular scissors», so called for their ability to cut the DNA molecule effectively and with precision.