In this episode, Shobita and Jack talk about how patents might shape access to a COVID-19 vaccine. And, in light of a recent report by the US and UK national scientific academies, we talk about heritable human genome editing (using CRISPR-Cas9) and the role that the world's citizens might play in deciding whether and how it might proceed, with Ben Hurlbut, Associate Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University.Links relevant to the episode:- J. Benjamin Hurlbut (2020). "Imperatives of Governance: Human Genome Editing and the Problem of Progress."Perspectives in Biology and Medicine. 63(1): 177-194.- Krishanu Saha, J. Benjamin Hurlbut, Sheila Jasanoff (2020). "Should We Alter the Human Genome? Let Democracy Decide" Scientific American. January 15.- J. Benjamin Hurlbut (2019). "Human genome editing: ask whether, not how." Nature. 565: 135.- Sheila Jasanoff and J. Benjamin Hurlbut (2018). "A global observatory for gene editing." Nature. 555: 435-437.- J. Benjamin Hurlbut (2019). "Human Genome Editing: Great Power, Great Responsibility." MIT Technology Review. Video lecture.- National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (2020). "Heritable Genome Editing Not Yet Ready to Be Tried Safely and Effectively in Humans; Initial Clinical Uses, If Permitted, Should Be Limited to Serious Single-Gene Diseases." Press Release.- Bhaven Sampat (2020). "Whose Drugs Are These?" Issues in Science and Technology. 36(4): 42-48.- Ken Shadlen (2020). "To Speed New COVID Drugs and Vaccines, Look to Patenting.” Issues in Science and Technology. August 11.Transcript available at thereceivedwisdom.com