Flying Cars- the Next Transportation Disruption?

19

October

2018

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Forget electric vehicles, self-driving cars, and shared mobility- the launch of flying cars could be the next big thing in the field of mobility.

Until now buzzwords in the transportation industry such as electrification and autonomous driving have dominated the headlines. However, the approaching commercial debut of the world’s first personal air vehicle has sparked interest in this new form of aerial mobility. The company behind the novel product, Terrafugia, is currently taking orders for Transition, the first flying car (Rocco, 2018). The vehicle promises the following functionalities: speed of 100 miles an hour, altitudes of up to 9,000 feet and both air and ground transport (Metcalfe, 2018). It also offers a “new dimension of personal freedom” and an escape from traffic jams, however, can these features be enough to disrupt the existing methods of transport?

Flying cars have been preceded by a number of innovations with the potential to disrupt or at least transform the transportation industry landscape. Disruption by definition is the capability of creating major change or interfering with the regular course of a system (Sprei 2018). In the transport industry, shared mobility companies such as ride-sharing startups Lyft and Uber have been claimed to disrupt the market by shifting the focus away from privately owned vehicles. However, according to Christensen’s framework on disruptive innovation, Uber fails to meet the criteria that would classify the ride-hailing giant as disruptive. Conversely to companies categorized as disruptive, Uber did not start in markets that incumbents overlooked nor was its services considered inferior by the customers of the incumbents (M. Christensen, E. Raynor and McDonald, 2015). In like manner, electronic vehicle manufacturers such as Tesla cannot be considered disruptive as the original electric car was superior and more expensive compared to existing products and was discounted to attract the interest of the mainstream market (Sprei 2018).

Where these major innovations have failed to disrupt the automobile industry, there still remains hope for flying vehicles in the private aviation sector of transport (Metcalfe, 2018). In accordance with the disruption theory, Terrafugia targets a niche market of private aviation customers that incumbents neglect. Moreover, it offers a product with inferior qualities but with a lower price tag and promise of a decrease in parking fees and fuel costs. The migration of the product to the mainstream market could, however, be impeded by mechanical shortcomings, harsh regulations, and difficulty in integrating the vehicle safely into airspace (Metcalfe, 2018). Nevertheless, flying vehicles hold the promise of disrupting the transportation market as we know it.

Sprei, F. (2018). Disrupting mobility. Energy Research & Social Science, [online] 37, pp.238-242. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629617303596 [Accessed 5 Oct. 2018].

Christensen, C., E. Raynor, M. and McDonald, R. (2015).What Is Disruptive Innovation?. [online] Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2015/12/what-is-disruptive-innovation [Accessed 8 Oct. 2018].

Metcalfe, T. (2018). The Terrafugia Transition could end the long wait for flying cars. [online] NBC News. Available at: https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/terrafugia-transition-means-long-wait-flying-cars-almost-over-ncna919211 [Accessed 4 Oct. 2018].

Rocco, M. (2018). World’s first flying car about to go on sale. [online] Fox Business. Available at: https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/worlds-first-flying-car-about-to-go-on-sale [Accessed 9 Oct. 2018].

 

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DNA Hacking with CRISPR

18

October

2018

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Improving crops, stopping genetic diseases and possibly transforming entire species. Is the DNA-editing technology CRISPR-Cas9 about to revolutionize our societies and the world as we know it? Conversely, will the genomic engineering power of the technology be used to serve less noble causes such as creating designer babies? For the moment, it remains unclear what the future holds for the technology celebrated as the most versatile genetic modification tool ever invented in the history of molecular biology. (Plumer et al., 2018)

Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat, better known as CRISPR, refers to the organization of short, repeated DNA sequences commonly found in genomes of bacteria and other microorganisms. The creation of the gene editing technology, CRISPR-Cas9, drew its inspiration from the defense mechanisms of these simple life forms. In case of an attack from a virus, bacteria defend themselves by cutting up the DNA of the invading virus and adding it as spacers to their CRISPR sequence. The CRISPR sequence is then copied into the RNA that serves as a “genetic memory” of past viral invasions and guides the bacteria to destroy viruses with DNA matching the CRISPR RNA sequences. This aids in protecting the bacteria from future attacks by the same virus. In order to turn the defense mechanism into a gene-editing tool, the CRISPR RNA is replaced by a modified RNA guide. The RNA guides the CAS9 enzyme that previously dealt with slicing up virus DNA to scan the genome of the cell and cut the DNA that matches the RNA. DNA sequences can then be adjusted or inserted into the cell to fix the damage caused by the enzyme. In other words, scientists can edit genes of humans and other species as they see fit. (Molteni, 2018) (Plumer et al., 2018)

CRISPR thus acts as a double-edged sword, on one hand causing disruption in the healthcare industry through affordable fast and easy gene editing while on the other raising a number of bioethical issues (Mayer, 2014). Where should the line be drawn for editing the genome of human embryos? The technology promises huge positive societal impact in the form of treatment of deadly genetic diseases. On the flip-side, its almost limitless applications allow for the manipulation of more controversial elements of human existence such as intelligence, beauty and life expectancy (The Medical Futurist, 2016). Manipulating the human genome thus suggests a plethora of possible scenarios for the future of our societies, ranging from a world with gene-edited soldiers to an earth populated by superhumans (The Medical Futurist, 2016). The question that remains is to what lengths are we willing to go to improve human life?

Mayer, K. (2014). CRISPR—Fast, Easy … and Increasingly Accurate | GEN. [online] GEN- Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. Available at: https://www.genengnews.com/gen-exclusives/crisprfast-easy-and-increasingly-accurate/77900114 [Accessed 5 Oct. 2018].

The Medical Futurist. (2016). What Could CRISPR Do Tomorrow? – The Medical Futurist. [online] Available at: https://medicalfuturist.com/what-could-crisprcas9-do-tomorrow [Accessed 7 Oct. 2018].

Molteni, M. (2018). Everything You Need To Know About Crispr Gene Editing. [online] WIRED. Available at: https://www.wired.com/story/wired-guide-to-crispr/ [Accessed 4 Oct. 2018].

Plumer, B., Barclay, E., Belluz, J. and Irfan, U. (2018). A simple guide to CRISPR, one of the biggest science stories of the decade. [online] Vox. Available at: https://www.vox.com/2018/7/23/17594864/crispr-cas9-gene-editing [Accessed 9 Oct. 2018].

 

 

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