• Question: Is there a way to alter Dna, what I mean by this is basically, people I know want to be spiderman and heroes like that, I'm decently good at science and people have asked me before however I've never been able to answer this question can you? E.g grow a tail or make us be able to climb walls without any equipment. Please respond and I hope this is possible :D

    Asked by Inlex to Aaron, Abbey, Keith, Natalie, Pete on 13 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by wiktor_wochna.
    • Photo: Natalie Garrett

      Natalie Garrett answered on 13 Nov 2015:


      It would be amazing, wouldn’t it, if you could take a pill and change your DNA and wake up with super powers!

      Sadly, genetic engineering doesn’t really work like that. Scientists are working on ways to make genetic therapy, where they take a virus and engineer it so that it can insert different genes into the cells of your body, to help fix genetic diseases. But we’re a very very long way off being able to change someone’s DNA to the extent that their bodies physically change, for instance to make them like spiderman… And I think that’s a good thing!

      If you want to be like a superhero, I would recommend taking up a martial art, grasshopper.

    • Photo: Aaron Boardley

      Aaron Boardley answered on 13 Nov 2015:


      Our DNA changes and gets mutated in small ways all the time – its how we evolve, because each new generation is slightly different from the last.

      Although there are some genes we understand, there’s so much more to learn, so we’re not at a stage where we can just go into someone’s DNA and hack it about to make a designer human.

      The other part to consider is what we call the ethical side. Is it right to create designer life like this? Might it have other consequences? Any scientific experiment that involves tampering with life will have to consider the ethical side of things before it goes ahead – and there are even debates in parliament about the ethics of things like genetic engineering.

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