By Chloe Williams  

Kevin Esvelt worries more than the average scientist. It's a consequence of having invented a technology powerful enough to alter an entire species.

In 2013, Esvelt came up with the concept of CRISPR-based gene drive. The technology uses CRISPR, a gene editing tool, to hack the laws of inheritance: It allows scientists to genetically modify a few individuals that then spread a modified gene throughout an entire population, and eventually, every population around the world.

Sculpting Evolution head Kevin Esvelt has been named as one of the Inverse Future 50, “a group of 50 people who will be forces of good in the 2020s.”