Written by Lisandra

        It is understandable that public opinion regarding gene editing technology such as CRISPR remains generally wary and distrustful. Not only does CRISPR’s relative novelty compared to established medical treatments impact public perceptions of its safety and effectiveness, but controversies surrounding its limitations and ethical uses further fuel negative responses. While these fears can be healthy and reasonable, it is unreasonable that they should completely impede beneficial medical advancements – nor should those fears attempt to assert that current approaches to medical treatment cannot be improved upon when studies show the opposite. Research into autoimmune diseases such as Hashimoto’s disease not only support the necessity for treatment reform, but also reveal that CRISPR shows promising potential to become a groundbreaking treatment for various autoimmune diseases. More forward thinking, CRISPR could one day have the power to remove the hereditar...

          While the late-Victorian phenomena of atavism and degeneration were used to explain and dramatize the “innate” inferiority of marginalized groups, Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau use these familiar concepts to defamiliarize the self. In explaining what inspired him to start his experiment, Jekyll remarks that he “learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both” (Stevenson 43). This statement speaks to the true horror of Victorian atavism and degeneration; that while 19th century literature exaggerates the fear of the “Other” through depictions of regressive devolution, the full height of existential crisis is reached with the conscious realization that the “Other” undeniably exists within t...