''Human Nature'' is a 2019

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

directed by Adam Bolt and written by Adam Bolt and Regina Sobel. Producers of the film include Greg Boustead, Elliot Kirschner and

Dan Rather Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. (; born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor. Rather began his career in Texas, becoming a national name after his reporting saved thousands of lives during Hur ...

. The film describes the gene editing process of

CRISPR CRISPR () (an acronym for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a family of DNA sequences found in the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. These sequences are derived from DNA fragments of bac ...

(an acronym for "Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats"), and premiered in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

at the

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...

film conference and festival on March 10, 2019.

Synopsis

''Human Nature'' is a film documentary which presents an in-depth description of the gene editing process of

, and its possible implications. The film includes the perspective of the scientists who invented the process, and of the

genetic engineers Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including ...

who are applying the process. The CRISPR process, a 2013 breakthrough in biology, provides a way of controlling the basic genetic processes of life. In addition, the film documentary considers several relevant questions including, How will this new gene-editing ability change our relationship with nature? and, What will this new gene-editing ability mean for

human evolution Human evolution is the evolutionary process within the history of primates that led to the emergence of ''Homo sapiens'' as a distinct species of the hominid family, which includes the great apes. This process involved the gradual development o ...

? The film, in beginning to answer such questions, presents a review of the distant past and takes an educated look into the future. The film features the story of David Sanchez, a young man with

sickle cell disease Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of blood disorders typically inherited from a person's parents. The most common type is known as sickle cell anaemia. It results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying protein haemoglobin found in red b ...

. He is first featured in the hospital, sharing his experience as he gets a red blood cell transfusion. This treatment is currently one of the only available for people with sickle cell to help manage severe pain crises. Geneticists

Tshaka Cunningham Tshaka Cunningham is the Chief Scientific Officer of Polaris Genomics, a company focused on diagnosis and treatment for individuals with behavioral health conditions, and Executive Director of the Faith Based Genetics Research Institute. Early ...

, Ph.D. and Matt Porteus, M.D. discuss the prospect of using CRISPR to treat sickle cell disease at its genetic source. Porteus is set to start a clinical trial at Stanford University using CRISPR to treat sickle cell disease. At the end of the film, Sanchez speaks specifically about the role that sickle cell has had in shaping who he is today, stating “I don’t think I’d be me.”

Participants

The documentary film includes the following notable participants (alphabetized by last name): *

David Baltimore David Baltimore (born March 7, 1938) is an American biologist, university administrator, and 1975 Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine. He is President Emeritus and Distinguished Professor of Biology at the California Institute of Tech ...

– American biologist *

Matthew Porteus Matthew Hebden Porteus is Sutardja Chuk Professor of Definitive and Curative Medicine at Stanford University. In 2003, as a postdoctoral fellow in David Baltimore's lab at the California Institute of Technology, Porteus was the first to demonstrat ...

– American researcher *

Jill Banfield Jillian Fiona Banfield (born Armidale, Australia) is professor at the University of California, Berkeley with appointments in the Earth Science, Ecosystem Science and Materials Science and Engineering departments. She leads the Microbial Researc ...

– American researcher * Rodolphe Barrangou – American researcher * Alta Charo – American bioethicist *

Emmanuelle Charpentier Emmanuelle Marie Charpentier (; born 11 December 1968) is a French professor and researcher in microbiology, genetics, and biochemistry. As of 2015, she has been a director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. In 2018, ...

– French microbiologist * George M. Church – American geneticist *

– American researcher * George Q. Daley – American hematologist *

Jennifer Doudna Jennifer Anne Doudna (; born February 19, 1964) is an American biochemist who has done pioneering work in CRISPR gene editing, and made other fundamental contributions in biochemistry and genetics. Doudna was one of the first women to share a ...

– American biochemist *

Hank Greely Henry T. "Hank" Greely is an American lawyer, a leading authority on the ethical, legal, and social implications of new biomedical technologies, particularly those related to genetics, assisted reproduction, neuroscience and stem cell research. G ...

– American lawyer *

Ian Hodder Ian Richard Hodder (born 23 November 1948, in Bristol) is a British archaeologist and pioneer of postprocessualist theory in archaeology that first took root among his students and in his own work between 1980–1990. At this time he had suc ...

– British archaeologist *

Stephen Hsu Stephen Dao Hui Hsu (born 1966) is an American physicist, who has previously worked as a tech executive and a university administrator. Early life and education Hsu was born and raised in Ames, Iowa. His father Cheng Ting Hsu (1923–1996), ...

– American physicist * Francisco Mojica – Spanish microbiologist *

Ryan Phelan Ryan Phelan is an Australian television journalist, media personality and presenter. Phelan has previously presented news updates on ''The Morning Show'' and was co-host of ''The Daily Edition''. Career Phelan’s television career started ...

– Australian journalist * Antonio Regalado * David Sanchez * Dolores Sanchez * Fyodor Urnov * Ethan Weiss * Palmer Weiss * Ruthie Weiss * Luhan Yang---> *

Fyodor Urnov Fyodor Dmitriyevich Urnov (; born 1968) is Russian-born biomedical researcher and who has played a leading role in the field of genome editing. He is a Professor of Genetics, Genomics, and Development at the University of California, Berkeley a ...

– Russian-born biomedical researcher * Feng Zhang – American biochemist

Reviews and criticism

According to film reviewer Devindra Hardawar, writing in ''

Engadget ''Engadget'' ( ) is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. ''Engadget'' manages ten blogs four of which are written in English and six have international versions with independent editor ...

'', the film is "a fascinating primer about what led to the discovery of the RISPRtool, and an exploration of the role it may have in our society. It's hopeful about CRISPR's ability to help us fix diseases that have plagued humans for millennia, while also questioning if we're ready to make genetic changes that'll affect us for generations to come." Reviewer Danielle Solzman writes, "There’s a lot of science involved here. I can't stop but grow cautious when it comes to the ''

Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 whe ...

'' ilmcomparisons. At the same time, I also want scientists to push for finding cures to

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bl ...

, MS,

sickle cell anemia Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of blood disorders typically inherited from a person's parents. The most common type is known as sickle cell anaemia. It results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying protein haemoglobin found in red b ...

, etc. Maybe gene editing is one possible solution as ''Human Nature'' shows." Film reviewer Sam Machkovech of

Ars Technica ''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sc ...

asks, " oes this film describethe future of health? The future of a ... nightmare? By anchoring both of those extremes with a funny, human touch, ''Human Nature'' made me feel comfortable with a landing point somewhere closer to the middle." Reviewer Sean Boelman notes, "Overall, ''Human Nature'' san interesting and effective documentary. If you are a fan of science-oriented films, this is not one you will want to miss."

References

External links

Official WebSite
* {{Portal bar, chemistry, film, science 2019 documentary films 2019 films American documentary films Films scored by Keegan DeWitt Works about genetics 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language documentary films

Synopsis

Participants

Reviews and criticism

See also

References

External links