Questions tagged [genetic-engineering]
For questions about the fictitious in-universe genetic engineering found in works of speculative fiction. Questions purely concerning real-world genetic engineering are off-topic.
89 questions
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Short story about gene editing
Only details I can remember include first-person narrator, a teenage boy. The household next door has a girl 6 feet 4 inches with blue eyes. She was gene edited.
10
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Story or book from the 80s or 90s that had genetically created humans who could grow teeth and eat people
I ran across this story or book from the 80s or 90s while staying at a hotel/ski resort, and I've recently started re-reading old sci-fi books. All I really remember is that there were some people on ...
6
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1
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Book about a girl who lives in a world with genetically-modified humans and runs into a girl who looks exactly like her
I recall reading a story about a young teen girl who lives in a world with genetically-modified humans and non-modified humans. On a school trip (rock climbing/hiking?), she runs into a girl who looks ...
9
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Space Invasion story. People get a blister, or pimple on their arm. Treated, they are fine, untreated they die [duplicate]
I recall a novel published maybe 20-30 years ago.
I don't know if the aliens are actually on the planet (like the "V" series) or alien visitors are spreading plagues.
People all over the ...
2
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1
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Why did the Federation ban DNA resequencing? [duplicate]
It makes no sense that the entire Federation and group of many planets would ban DNA reseqeuncing just because of a horrific experience the humans had with it. Other members of the Federation may ...
15
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Science fiction book about a world where bioengineered animals are used for common functions
A novel/book from the 90's. Society used genetically modified animals to perform basic tasks. For example, birds were genetically modified to be large enough to carry passengers like our passenger ...
19
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1
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Disease of too-much concentration
I read this in the early 2000s I think in Asimovs or F&SF. The main character has a friend who thinks he would have done better in life by not being so distractable, and instead concentrating on ...
16
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Human like animals are modified to become more intelligent. One is adopted by humans.The fight for their rights
Short story or novella.I read this about 2005 but it seemed to have been written much earlier. I remember looking at the publication date and noting it was written before humans were capable of ...
14
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Sci-fi short story about a human ship discovering a lost colony of genetically modified humans who find pleasure in self-sacrifice
I'm searching for a sci-fi short story I read years ago (I think in an anthology) about a human ship discovering a lost colony, possibly on a death world or asteroid. The harsh conditions forced the ...
4
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187
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Why don't people have allergies on certain planets in Star Wars?
I recently finished The High Republic: Defy the Storm (Canon High Republic Phase III YA novel) and on pg. 300, something very intriguing is said:
Cair immediately began charming everyone with smiles ...
6
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Trying to find name of book written before 2000 where society can genetically modify themselves
Trying to find name of book where a scientist created a virus that would allow people to rapidly change themselves genetically, including adding animal features, become blonde, musclemen, etc. The ...
7
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Science fiction novel about a group of genetically engineered young adults that lived in a "pod" or family group
I'm looking for the name of a science fiction novel from the late 90's or early 2000's.
The plot revolved around a group of genetically engineered young adults that lived in a "pod" or ...
14
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1
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Sci-fi novel where gene editing becomes a cottage industry
I’m looking for a book I read in the early 2000’s where the protagonist experiments with genetic engineering on himself. Basically, gene editing technology becomes accessible to normal people and a ...
6
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1
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Science fiction novel on genetically engineered chimeric embryos in cows, with resulting escaped monsters
The novel is dystopian science fiction, published before 2013, in English. It is set in the US, Canada, etc.
It starts with a Chinese (or Asian) woman researcher in a secret laboratory where ...
2
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1
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Was Brave New World the first book that had shaping of human embryos?
I suspect that Brave New World was the first book to have humans develop in vitro, but I am asking if any prior story had the development shaped (especially, but not limited to, by stunting) before ...
8
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Clones, hazardous environment, rebirth, human rights
A second-hand softback I read in the early 1980s - possibly written in the early to mid 1970s. Possibly the complete novel, or perhaps two or three stories in the one book, no more than that.
Artwork:
...
9
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Old scifi book: detective, alien conspiracy, change appearance machine, huge brain in space ship, alien communicates by flashing lights from stomach
I am looking for an old book. People can use a machine to change appearance and genetically modify themselves. The main character is a detective or cop, he follows a suspect into the sewers and finds ...
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Genetically altered seeds escape in Bay area; genetically altered children spontaneously suicide
Read a book in the 1980’s that warns of the dangers of genetic engineering. My memory is very vague as to details, but I seem to recall the book opening with modified grass or rice seeds that ...
9
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124
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People using genetic engineering to transform their offspring to live on a gaseous planet
I was hoping for some help. I remember parts of a science fiction plot point and I’m trying to locate the story. I’m not sure if it is a short story, a novel, or even an extremely short lived science ...
7
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Book series about human bioengineering with alien animal DNA [duplicate]
What i remember from the plot:
Human scientists captured by alien empire, dumped on some planet with no way out alter their DNA with local animals to be on-par with alien captors regarding speed and ...
19
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Book or story where humans are genetically engineered to act as AI?
I don't remember the title or too many specifics, but here goes:
Genetic engineering is ubiquitous. The system for explaining how genetic engineering works has a fixed number of "points" ...
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Has there been renewed interest in Cordwainer Smith's stories about chimeras?
Cordwainer Smith's stories about chimeras (see Definition 4 in this link), i.e., people who were part human and part animal seemed the farthest-out of far-out science fiction when they were first ...
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Book about two humans who genetically engineer themselves to be able to exist in outer space
I am trying to find out the title of a book. I read the book sometime between 2004 and 2010 I believe. It was a science fiction book about genetic engineering. I know in the book they were mixing ...
6
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Scifi book about superhuman engineered kids with progeria
This was an older sci-fi book, probably from the 80s. I read it as a child in the late 80s or early 90s.
The protagonist was a fertility doctor or something similar. He found out there were these ...
18
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2
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Far future SF novel with humans living in genetically engineered habitats in space
I'm looking for a novel I read in English around 1989 or 1990. I think it was written in the 80s. It was a rather thick (for the time) mass-market paperback and I think it had a picture of a guy ...
6
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2
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289
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Building a house with mouth cement [duplicate]
So I have a series of vague impressions and a couple of details:
Pretty sure this was a book, not a short story.
I probably read it in the '90s... maybe earlier.
I think the basic plot was that there ...
8
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1
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90s biopunk novel about near future genetic engineering
The novel is set against the backdrop of an economic collapse in the near future US. At one point a demonstration for a bailout is used as cover for a terrorist attack.
There's a character who's a ...
8
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1
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516
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Book about genetic engineering to defeat disease that turns children into hermaphrodites
The initial plot was about genetic engineering being used to defeat disease, but something went awry that caused a massive social upheaval, where people in social settings would have a lapel pin or ...
7
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1
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580
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Gene-modified man has a 2-week period heightened reflexes and constant wakefulness
There are just a few details I recall from a novel I read about 25 years ago.
The setting is a fairly unmemorable future space-faring society. I don't recall any major character aliens, but that ...
5
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Novel revolving around genetic engineering
About 20 years ago I read a book that revolved around a future where genetic engineering is so commonplace that people visit genetic engineering parlors much like they do tattoo shops IRL now. At ...
4
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Sci-fi book about a genetically modified planet
I read only the beginning of this book, and it was decades ago, but I always wondered about it and wanted to read it. As I recall, the protagonist finds himself stranded on a strange world. I don't ...
5
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1
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177
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YA novel: siblings from a walled city, whose DNA is spliced with animal DNA [duplicate]
I remember a scene where they fly over a wall and land in a forest.
They find a huge home and realise that when the world was dying due to overpopulation, the poor were moved to the walled area while ...
7
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0
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133
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Series of short stories about an intelligent bear bred to fight an alien beast the size of a locomotive
I'm looking for a series of short stories about an intelligent bear (or species of such) bred to fight an alien beast the size of a locomotive. I recall only one story that featured a pack of bumbling,...
3
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3
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What examples of genetic engineering and/or eugenics are there in Star Trek other than the Eugenics Wars?
Excluding Julian Bashir and the products of the human Eugenic Wars... do we ever encounter any species in Star Trek that have engaged in significant genetic self-modification or eugenics?
Basically ...
39
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1k
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Futuristic world where reality is humanity's plaything and God is in a zoo
This is a novel I read in 2015. It was an older book. The cover was black and hardcover. Don't remember any specific details. The book was in English. I believe it was from the 1980s or ‘90s.
It was ...
13
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1
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Web story about aliens who twist humans into various sub-humans
It was hosted on its own page and was written much like a documentary about the rise and fall of the human race from the perspective of an alien narrator. There were plenty of illustrations to show ...
11
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1
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What's the name of that comic team with genetically engineered government agents?
The story starts with a family living in a cabin in the woods. There's a mom, a dad, and a boy, but the boy is about twenty years old or something. They're talking, I think the boy is bringing up an ...
5
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1
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Book with lasers on pyramids for electricity generation, sun flare ending the civilization, genetic engineering of pets and rebirth of civilization
An ancient civilization uses lasers mounted on pyramids to generate electricity. When a sun flare causes an uncontrollable cascade which ends their civilization, some escape to space. One group, which ...
6
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1
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652
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Science fiction novel involving a genetically engineered servant race uplifted from non-human primates
I belive I read this while I was living in Ohio between 2002 and 2006. It was a hardback novel with a dark cover. The basic story is set somewhere a few years into the future, with society not very ...
11
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1
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878
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Short story about the drawbacks of human telepathy on an alien planet
There will be heavy spoilers in my question. The plot is that a band of humans have been genetically engineered to be telepathic. Unfortunately, the engineered humans made the rest of humanity nervous,...
12
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1
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373
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Short story - engineered human terraforming civilized planet
Story is told from viewpoint of planet inhabitants whose planet is attacked by implacable terraforming ship. Turns out spaceship's only crew is giant engineered human whose only mission is to ...
7
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1
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352
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90s Novel About Sentient Rocks
The novel had rocks discovered on some planet that were sentient. Humans used them for cell phones. They wanted to be free and enlisted some sort of geneticist sometimes called "a bodybuilder" to ...
6
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1
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Late 80s or early 90s book includes genetically engineered executioner with gills
A male main character was genetically engineered, had gills in his throat, and was an executioner in a post-apocalyptic world. He was able to move long distances instantly through something called the ...
4
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Identify SciFi story where Genetic Engineering created Fantasy monster like dragons [duplicate]
Once again I am trying to find about a story I read decades ago in translation (I do not remember the title in Italian, either).
The main topic was a world where genetic engineering had starter ...
5
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2
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343
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Looking for a science fiction omnibus where one of the stories had mock combat games for political purposes
I read this story over twelve years ago. It was published with a lot of other stories (by the same author IIRC). The main story that I remember had to do with some kind of war games using pilots and ...
13
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1
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In Asimov's The Naked Sun why didn't the Solarians use artificial insemination?
In Isaac Asimov's 1957 novel The Naked Sun it is a plot point that the inhabitants of the planet Solaria are raised to be repelled by physical contact, a fairly common theme in Asimov's work. It is ...
10
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2
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578
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SF short story where animals are genetically engineered to have hands and hunt hunters with guns
I'm trying to find the title and author of a short story I read about 15 years ago. Some genius genetically modifies animals to have hands and they are given guns. Humans are invited on a hunting trip ...
5
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1
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What was abnormal in Hanna's DNA?
In the movie Hanna (2011), DNA was manipulated by the CIA to create super-soldiers. In the this clip, we see at 00:55 a lab report marked "Abnormal".
In the lower left-hand corner can be seen the ...
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What evidence supports the idea that Voldemort (or others) could use magic to develop witches/wizards with genetically engineered/enhanced abilities? [closed]
I am seeking additional supporting canon evidence for the idea that within the Potterverse, it would be potentially possible to use magic to genetically engineer/enhance witches/wizards to have ...
6
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2
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Short story with Genetically Modified pegasus made to order
I had this story in an anthology collection many years ago - the basic premise was that a company - Genetics Inc. (or something along those lines, which may be the title of the tale) were able to ...