“Biotech nerds” are no longer outsiders but mainstream heroes, especially in the age of CRISPR and the coronavirus crisis. However, though they are akin to digital tech geniuses like Steve Jobs, biotechnologists feel pulled between the thrill of new discoveries and concern about their ethical fallout.

At the 2019 CRISPR Conference in Quebec, Canada, Zhang had just beaten Sternberg in publishing a paper on a CRISPR-guided system that inserts a tailored jumping gene into a desired DNA location. Doudna and her team were enraged once again at what they felt was Zhang’s stealthy modus operandi. However, to Isaacson, it is clear Zhang was simply faster; his paper was meticulous, by no means a rush job. In Quebec, too, Isaacson spent time at dinner with Zhang, who is sharply opposed to the idea of germline editing. Isaacson and Zhang’s group of diners included CRISPR pioneer Erik Sontheimer and April Pawluk, an editor at Cell. As talk turned to the ethical implications of CRISPR, Zhang made an important point: In a world where some people don’t even have access to eyeglasses, imagine the consequences of opening the door to genetic enhancements for others.