From birth through high school graduation I was an art nerd. Math was never my strongest area, and while science and technology interested me, in my mind they were guilty by association. I managed to make it to 12th grade without taking a single science class and still graduated with only 4 quarters of basic intro sciences I cruised through with little homework. But that lack of interest took a hard left when at around 20 years old I discovered genomics – the study of DNA and genomes. I was hooked immediately. Purchased all the genetics text books and research papers I could get my hands on and eventually enrolled myself in an undergraduate transfer program, set to transfer to UW for a degree in molecular biology. From there I would pursue a PhD in genomics and planned for a long research career in gene & chromosome therapy: cure diseases by “fixing” DNA mutations. I blissfully completed a year and a half of biology courses  before cracking the chemistry prerequisites. Rude awakening right smack in the gonads. This was not going to be my long-term career path. My brain just doesn’t work that way.

Stupid chemistry.

Even though I knew it was an ill-fated career choice, I never lost interest in genomics. But the longer I followed the DNA saga, the less comfortable I became with genetic engineering. For one, the whole concept of “junk DNA” had never sat well with me. I found it hard to reconcile the accepted opinion that nature, in all of it’s complexity and elegance, would evolve to wasting 97% of the matter and energy that creates every living thing on earth. Just like tonsils were once thought to be a superfluous organ that could (and should) be removed, it seemed presumptuous to assume that just because we didn’t currently understand DNA mechanics, it was safe to assume 97% of creation was useless trash. We just hadn’t studied it enough yet.

I certainly didn’t condone the projects that would potentially introduce  irreversible damage to the foundation of life. Yet, on they went, slicing and dicing, mutating and spawning without having the slightest notion of how DNA actually worked. And as usual, intuition trumped logic. We now know that some GMOs, which made their way into our supermarket shelves, contribute to sterilization in as little as 2 generations. I won’t get into some of the other freighting things loosed on the world, and these are just the things on public record.

All the while, the amount of discoveries made regarding DNA mechanic and function is nothing short of awe-inspiring. DNA emits light. It attracts, absorbs and stores light as well as encourages light to mimic it’s form, even AFTER the DNA is no longer present. It is able to clone itself into an empty container using nothing but electromagnetic waves as a carrier¹. It physically responds to emotional fluctuations, even while sealed in a vacuum hundreds of miles away from it’s donor. It will physically respond by changing it’s shape when in proximity to people who are NOT it’s donor experiencing emotional responses. It is influenced by the vibrations of sound waves and brain waves caused by thought. They are able to recreate any part of the body depending on their environment, suggesting conscious awareness or instinctual decision-making by taking cues from their surroundings and determining what the need is, regardless of environment.

Exploring the “phantom DNA” phenomenon, Russian scientists used light and magnetism to hatch happy, healthy salamanders from eggs laid and fertilized by frogs. There are numorous on-record and published studies resulting in DNA literally influencing and causing an effect on the physical reality around it. What’s more, the type of influence it makes can be guided by using electromagnetic energy waves emitted by the human heart.

Yes, you heard correctly: our emotions literally construct (or destruct) our physical, tangible 3 dimensional plane. Your health. Your wealth. Your relationships. Your pets, car, electronics, past present and future. I’m not making this stuff up, people. The papers being punished in reputable journals like Nature are starting to read like scientific fantasy. These esoteric subjects are even easier to keep up with the launch of Google’s research tool: Google Scholar. Want to take a guess at what portions of DNA are responsible for these miraculous functions? You guessed it… “junk” DNA.

In addition to being RELALY freakin’ exciting, it only begins to underscore the fact that genetic engineering should not be continued. We have already introduced irreversible damage to our biosphere. Bioethics is grossly underrepresented and is unable to keep pace with the amount of irresponsible—and in some cases flat-out maniacal—”research” marching forward every single day. CRISPR scares the living shit out of me, and if it doesn’t scare the shit out of you, it’s clear that word of what’s been going down in China hasn’t made it to your Facebook feed yet.

Now, I don’t want to alarm anyone to the point of stress responses (we wouldn’t want to get your DNA tightly coiled now would we?) but this is a real issue. With real repercussions, some of which have already been introduced to nature.

Is this really technology you want in the hands of the same humans who created—and used—the atomic bomb? Encourage and finance war? Violate their citizens civil liberties and have been caught sending innocent dissenters to brutal off-shore prison camps?

Me, either.

If I haven’t made your panties bunch around your waistline yet, good work. Staying detached from fear but conscious and discerning enough to be a responsible human is something we all need to be capable of doing. If I did, but want to know more super cool stuff about DNA, emotion, it’s fractal structure, vibrational patterns, widely-held theories on the origins of humanity, history, time travel and all sorts of other stuff researchers have derived from DNA study, this video is for you! But don’t be scurred… that description sounds far more intimidating than it is. I ran across this video today and was REALLY impressed at the depth of knowledge, method of presentation and casual, common-language way of communicating complex information in a very accessible way. There’s also something that’s just plain likable about this guy. I have a strong urge to meet him for tea.

¹some call this teleportation, but that’s not an entirely appropriate term