Current Affairs

The Chinese researcher who stunned and alarmed the international scientific community with the announcement that he had created the world’s first gene-edited babies has been sentenced to three years in prison by a court in China. He Jiankui sparked a bioethical crisis last year when he claimed to have edited the DNA of human embryos, resulting in the birth of twins called Lulu and Nana as well as a possible third pregnancy. The gene editing, which was aimed at making the children immune to HIV, was excoriated by many scientists as a reckless experiment on human subjects that violated basic ethical principles. He was convicted of “illegal medical practice,” sentenced to three years in prison and fined about $430,000, according to the news agency Xinhua. He pleaded guilty, along with two collaborators, Zhang Renli and Qin Jinzhou, who also received prison sentences and fines.

The United States plans to have the first nuclear reactor on the moon by the end of the year 2026. NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy will seek proposals from industry to build nuclear power plants on the moon and Mars to support its long-term exploration plans.

Pakistani education activist and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai became the most famous teenager in the world of the 21st century.