The gorilla genome science story ought to bring up again the importance of genetics in our modern lives, and how the advance of genetics is turning out to be central to the future of medicine (and many areas of applied biology, such as ecology.)

Yet the American media doesn’t handle this well. Though some online news sites do pick up these stories, I gather than 99% of the public is blissfully unaware of the rapid advances being made.

If we wanted to we could do a major project (ala Manhattan or Apollo) on engineering the new human. There is much, very much, that is yet to be learnt - that is clear. But we know enough now to understand that the genetic material is our cells is the definition and determiner of what is “life”, and that we can change it.

For example, other genetics stories from just today include: discoveries of genetic variants in Ashkenazi Jews wrt Crohn’s; brain functions; and plant internal clocks.

It’s overwhelming, the amount of discoveries being made. This is the new golden age of biology.