India, Sept. 22 -- In just over a decade, a scientific discovery buried deep in bacterial biology has moved from obscure laboratories into courtrooms, parliaments, ethics committees, and dinner-table debates around the world. CRISPR, the genome-editing technology that allows scientists to alter DNA with unprecedented ease, is no longer simply a tool of molecular biology. It has become a mirror reflecting society's deepest hopes and anxieties about health, equity, power, and the limits of human intervention in nature. At its simplest, CRISPR allows scientists to make precise changes to genetic material.

What once took years of laborious work can now be done in weeks. This speed and accessibility explain why CRISPR has spread so rapidly ac...