DT Live: NASA landing, gene-edited babies, and cloud-connected notebooks

By Brie Barbee November 28, 2018

On Tuesday’s Digital Trends Live, Greg Nibler discussed trending topics from the NASA Insight Lander’s successful landing on Mars, to the world’s first gene-edited babies, and an LG patent for a 16-camera smartphone.

We were also joined by three special guests: Venture for America founder and presidential candidate Andrew Yang, to talk about the benefits of universal income; and Joe Lemay and Jack Epstein, co-founders of the world’s first cloud-connected notebook.

This week marked a historic milestone for NASA, whose spacecraft successfully touched down on the Red Planet after years of preparation. After a long journey, which began back in May, Insight safely landed at around 2:50 p.m. ET on Monday. The lander will now begin conducting geological research and investigating Mars’ soil.

Another milestone in the field of medicine also came this week with the birth of two twins girls in China who purportedly had their DNA altered. Using the CRISPR gene-editing technique, certain applications of which can create malaria-resistant mosquitoes and drought-resistant plants, scientists were able to alter embryonic DNA.

However, unlike the technology currently being used on Mars, editing human DNA raises some serious ethical questions. If these claims end up being true, these babies will be immune to smallpox, cholera, and HIV, which is hard to be against, but who is going to have access to this technology in the future? Will it only be reserved for the super-rich? And how far are will we be willing to edit the human genome?

We also sat down with Andrew Yang, founder of Venture for America, as well as a Democratic candidate for president of the United States. As Yang explained in his interview with Digital Trends’ editor-in-chief Jeremy Kaplan, automation, like self-driving cars, is slowly taking over sectors of the jobs market.

Yang is proposing a $1,000-per-month universal income, which he believes will bolster the economy as well as make the transitions for people being displaced from their jobs by technology a little easier.

We were also joined by Joe Lemay and Jack Epstein to talk about the Rocketbook Everlast, an erasable, reusable, cloud-connected notebook. It started as an idea in a bar after LeMay left some important notes at home, and bloomed into a successful business that brings technology to something that hasn’t been improved in years.

Digital Trends Live airs Monday through Friday at 9 a.m. PT, with highlights available on demand after the stream ends. For more information, check out the DT Live homepage, and be sure to watch live for the chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card, among other prizes.

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