Strange Natures: Conservation in the Era of Synthetic Biology

A groundbreaking examination of the implications of synthetic biology for biodiversity conservation

Nature almost everywhere survives on human terms. The distinction between what is natural and what is human-made, which has informed conservation for centuries, has become blurred. When scientists can reshape genes more or less at will, what does it mean to conserve nature?

The tools of synthetic biology are changing the way we answer that question. Gene editing technology is already transfo...