Our picksGene engineering goes global; jockeying to test experimental Ebola drugs; Puerto Rico’s power grid, and more

Crispr goes global: A snapshot of rules, policies, and attitudes (Kathleen M. Vogel, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)
The gene editing technology Crispr has been in the news a great deal over the last few years. The lion’s share of media coverage has focused on the revolutionary technology’s vast potential for improving human life and its disturbing potential for harm. Crispr, compared to traditional methods of genetic engineering, enables more precise and efficient genetic modifications. These attributes have sparked great excitement, and provoked many concerns, regarding the economic, social, biosafety, bioethical, and biosecurity implications of Crispr-related work.

The internet of things is built to leak (Gilad Rosner, The Hill)
For all the cases of hackers illegally accessing data from IoT products, few consumers are aware that many IoT devices are designed to collect and share potentially private data as part of their normal operation. The stakes are enormous: as more products come equipped with cameras and microphones — not to mention thermal sensors, accelerometers, facial and biometric analysis, and GPS — we are quietly building a sensor fabric that may soon be inescapable, even inside private spaces like the home.

Austria is closing 7 mosques and kicking out 60 imams (y Tara Isabella Burton, Vox)
On Friday, the Austrian government announced that it plans to close down seven mosques and potentially expel about 60 imams from the country. The announcement, which was made by Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, is rooted in a 2015 law that requires Muslim organizations to express a “positive fundamental view towards [the] state and society” of Austria, and bans foreign funding of religious institutions. “Political Islam’s parallel societies and radicalizing tendencies have no place in our country,” said Kurz at a press conference. His vice chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache, added ominously, “This is just the beginning.”

Ebola outbreak opens way to chaotic jockeying to test experimental drugs (Helen Branswell, Scientific American)
The final decision about which potential therapies to allow rests with the DRC government

Judge orders EPA to produce science behind Pruitt’s warming claims (Scott Waldman, Scientific American)
The EPA head has suggested humans are not the main cause of climate change