For the first time ever, experimental gene editing technology has been used to treat a baby with a fatal condition. Just don’t mess with the embryos. This episode was produced by Victoria Chamberlin, edited by Miranda Kennedy, fact checked by Avishay Artsy, engineered by Patrick Boyd and Andrea Kristinsdottir and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. Transcript at vox.com/today-explained-podcast. Baby KJ as he prepares to leave the hospital. Photo courtesy of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Help us plan for the future of Today, Explained by filling out a brief survey: voxmedia.com/survey. Thank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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It's a big week for baby KJ. After spending nearly his entire first year of life in the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, he is going home. Baby KJ is not like your average baby. He was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease shortly after birth, something that roughly one in a million babies have. But baby KJ got a genetic treatment for it that no baby has ever had. And it worked.
He's had quite a nice little growth spurt. I like to think it's really helped him grow some nice chubby cheeks.
Man, the day he walks into like school with a book bag on and we like let him go at the door, like, I might have to take the day off that day.
The miracle of baby KJ coming up on Today Explained.
KJ, buddy, what you doing down there? What are you doing? KJ!
Hey, everyone. It's Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge and host of Decoder, my show about big ideas and other problems. We have a special exclusive episode for you that we're really excited about. It's an interview with Google CEO Sundar Pichai. I sat down with Sundar during the Google I.O.
developer conference this year to talk about all of the company's major AI news, as well as the state of the industry, the future of the web, and Google's ongoing antitrust trials. There's a lot going on in this one. I think you're really going to like it. Check out Decoder wherever you get your podcasts.
There are fewer than 1,000 billionaires in the U.S. Why do they matter so much?
The solution is not to talk about wealth as a target. It's to talk about unfairness and corruption and self-dealing.
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