How Google’s Earthquake Alerts Protected Millions — And How to Turn It On in Quake-Prone Countries When two massive earthquakes (7.2 and 7.5) struck Venezuela recently, the country had no national early warning system. But millions of Android phones lit up with loud alerts seconds to minutes before the shaking hit — giving people precious time to drop, cover, and hold on. Google’s clever system turns the accelerometers in over 2 billion Android phones into a giant crowdsourced seismic network. It detects the first waves, confirms the quake, and blasts notifications to users in the affected area. In Venezuela, it reached 11.4 million people — proving technology can save lives even where governments can’t. How to activate it (works in nearly 100 countries): Open Settings on your Android phone. Tap Safety & Emergency (or search for “Earthquake alerts”). Select Earthquake Alerts and toggle it ON. Keep Location services ena...
What makes CRISPR so exciting is its ability to make changes to DNA inside living cells. It is theoretically possible to alter an organism’s entire genome if changes are made in the embryonic stage when it is composed of only a handful of cells. Several published studies from China have involved editing human embryos, but the teams involved identified several potential issues that cast doubt on CRISPR’s ability to modify a person’s entire genome. The new US study, led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov, not only modified more embryos than past experiments, it showed much more promising results.
When editing an embryo, you have a chance to change the genes in all the resulting organism’s cells. That means the changes you introduce would propagate through successive generations. Should that modification eliminate a defective gene that causes disease, you prevent that disease from appearing in the organism’s descendants. It’s clear why this is such an attractive idea, but the first few attempts with human embryos showed incomplete transfer of modified genes to all cells. This results in a condition called “mosaicism,” where some cells have a different genetic composition.
Mitalipov’s team was able to produce complete uptake of the modified genes by getting to the embryo earlier. CRISPR editing was performed shortly after the egg was fertilized with sperm carrying a genetic abnormality. The team successfully eliminated that defect in dozens of embryos. None of the embryos were allowed to develop beyond a small cluster of cells, but this potentially opens the door to clinical trials to eliminate genetic disease with germline engineering.
Some will no doubt be worried this technology will inevitably lead to “designer babies” with enhancements that go beyond the elimination of diseases. However, US law still blocks any effort to turn edited IVF embryos into babies. Clinical research will likely continue in other countries without such laws.

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