Special Section: THE BODY: From Baby Hatcheries To Xeroxing Human Beings

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There is other evidence that the beginning of genetic surgery is not far off. Dr. Sol Spiegelman of Columbia University has synthesized an artificial virus that is indistinguishable from its natural model and has used it to infect bacteria and produce new viruses. He and his colleagues have little doubt that they will also eventually create "friendly" viruses and use them to cure disease rather than cause it—by using the viruses to stimulate the production of the chemical products upon which health and life itself depend.

Prophylaxis is important, but man's molecular manipulations need hardly be confined to the prevention and cure of disease. His understanding of the mechanisms of life opens the door to genetic engineering and control of the very process of evolution. DNA can now be created in the laboratory. Soon, man will be able to create man—and even superman.

Researchers have found that they can increase the life span of laboratory animals by underfeeding them and thus delaying maturation. This phenomenon, they believe, occurs because a smaller intake of food results in the formation of fewer cross linkages—connecting rods that link together and partly immobilize the long protein and nucleic acid molecules essential to life. If scientists can retard cross linking in man, they may well slow his aging process. Scientists also hope that they can some day do away with disease, genetically breeding out hereditary defects while breeding in new immunities to bacterial and other externally caused ailments. Finally, they look forward—in the distant future and with techniques far beyond any now conceived—to altering the very nature of their species with novel sets of laboratory-created genetic instructions.

Current predictions about the appearance of re-engineered man seem singularly uninspired. Some scientists argue that man's head should be made larger to accommodate an increased number of brain cells. They do not, however, explain what man would do with this additional gray matter; there is good reason to believe that man does not use all that he presently possesses. A few others note that the efficiency of man's hands could be increased by an extra thumb and his peripheral vision enhanced by protruding eyes—improvements that seem unnecessary in the light of man's expanding technology.

SOME FAVOR LESS obvious alterations. They have suggested that man be given the genes to produce a two-compartment stomach (a cow has four) that could digest cellulose; that mutation could be advantageous if man fails to increase his food supplies fast enough to feed the planet's growing population, but superfluous if he does. They also want man programmed to regenerate other organs, such as he now does with the liver, so that he can repair his damaged or diseased heart or lungs if necessary.