Five technologies that will change how we live

Since the early 2000s, the cost of sequencing a human genome -- determining the precise order of nucleotides within DNA molecules that defines who we are -- has dropped sharply. A genome that cost $100m to sequence in 2001 can today be sequenced for roughly $1,000. This plummeting cost, along with the shortened timescales for sequencing DNA, has led to a revolution in biotechnology: gene hacking, or the ability to turn genes on and off, and to manipulate biology to our advantage. The most radical branch of this new technology is "gene editing" -- a process by which our DNA code can be cut and pasted using molecular "scissors" for a variety of applications, including curing diseases such as cancers and HIV. Until recently, swapping the code was an arduous process.