Inside STAT: China's history with AIDS explains a puzzling aspect of the 'CRISPR babies' story

The first time reporter Kathleen McLaughlin met someone in China dying from complications of AIDS, it was 2007 and the patient had never heard of the illness. That lack of understanding among some people with the condition, particularly in parts of the country where people are most likely to have it, reflects China’s complex history with AIDS. That might help explain a puzzling question about the news last month that a Chinese scientist had edited embryos that led to the world’s first “CRISPR babies”: Why did He Jiankui try to edit a gene that might protect the babies from AIDS? McLaughlin has more in a new story for STAT — read here.