It's only a few months into the year, but MIT's Technology Review has put together a list of 10 "breakthrough technologies" for 2013. "Our definition of a breakthrough is simple: an advance that gives people powerful new ways to use technology," the Tech Review editors write.
On that list, nestled between temporary social media (think Twitter messages that can expire) and additive manufacturing (those 3D printers everyone is talking about) is prenatal DNA sequencing. Tech Review notes that, in the US, four companies currently offer non-invasive prenatal genetic screens and, highlighted by Illumina's takeover of Verinata, full-genome sequencing of fetuses is likely coming down the pike, though there are cost and ethical issues to consider.
"We are going to face the challenge of what do you look for and how do you counsel women," Dennis Lo from the Chinese University of Hong Kong tells Tech Review. "I think we must use the technology in an ethical fashion and should refrain from analyzing things that are not life-threatening. Like predisposition to diabetes when someone is 40 years old. We don't even know what medicine would be in 40 years, so why worry the mother about that?"