"Human Nature" gives audiences a personal stake in the subject before getting into some pretty serious science, all of which has been thoughtfully organized into an easy-to-follow logical flow. The director introduces a young kid with sickle cell anemia who could potentially be saved by the alteration of the single DNA molecule thought to cause the life-threatening condition. David is a remarkable kid who's part of an experimental study at Stanford Children's Hospital, showing a maturity brought on by adjusting to the disorder, he's already lost a friend to leukemia, and he understands that CRISPR could make the difference in his own long-term survival, but he might surprise you when asked if he would prefer to have been born with healthy red blood cells. CRISPR is the name of a microscopic phenomenon, which describes repeating DNA sequences found in bacteria that have given scientists a precision tool to splice and edit the genome of humans and other life forms it plays into many people's anxieties of science overstepping its bounds. The broader ethical considerations come as food for thought while reminding audiences why understanding the basic principles of this emerging field is so important. Whereas some of those digressions confuse more than they illuminate, the real achievement of "Human Nature" is that it takes a complex subject and distills it into such an engaging 95-minute package. That's the successful experiment underlying this particular project, in which viewers happen to serve as the guinea pigs in how such technical information can be presented in a more effective way. The actual question arises throughout "Human Nature" over what we are and what, if anything, we should change about ourselves on a cellular level. Though the film usually takes a hopeful, pro-Crispr outlook, uncertainties still linger, as do fear over the future. As one biologist says, this isn't just the start of a new era for the world , it's the end of our beginning.
Review of Human Nature
