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What the hell is CRISPR, aside from an area that I don't often touch in my refrigerator?

To borrow a term from the narrator of the YouTube video that I embedded in this post (below), CRISPR is essentially a "DNA archive" that bacteria will use to restore (replicate) their healthy genes in the cases when bacteriophages(viruses to the bacteria) attack them and succeed to some degree at inserting their own genetic code (into the bacteria). It's a system inherent in bacteria that, utilizing a protein named Cas9, allows them to "cut out" (shut down) genes that weren't original to the first copy.

A "reset" or "restore" button for the bacteria, if you will.

...and?

The good news (to yuuugely understate it) is that CRISPR can be programmed to adapt to the human genome!

You read that right. CRISPR can be manipulated into modifying our DNA in real-time!

Furthermore, it can presumably (human clinical trials as a cancer treatment began in June 2016 in the US), foreseeably, be used to cure (reverse damage from) ALL forms of genetic diseases, including Huntington's disease and Hemophilia, as well as viruses like AIDS and herpes! It can even be used to make white blood cells efficient at killing cancerous cells!!!

..!!!

To say that this is a revolution in medicine is...well, duh.

...where's the "but"?

Looking a bit more into the future, this may, and likely will, veer off into being used for embryonic (genetic) modifications that allow us to control genetic sequencing and, therefore, specific physical, psychological, and physiological attributes, down to the most minute details, making it possible to create "super humans" with superior immune systems and capabilities.

Take that as you will.

Fountain of youth?

Yes, it opens the door to the potential of one day stopping and maybe even reversing aging!

Just think, you could be in your prime year(s) FOREVER!

...well, until the inevitable unpredictable disaster finally put an end to this Disney-esue story, but that could potentially take millenniums to happen, whole magnitudes of 10 higher than the longest living humans of today.

Now that I've paraphrased nearly the whole video (very poorly, I might add), I provide you the (video) source, along with a couple of juicy quotes from the narrator.

Video Source

Overnight, the costs of [genetic] engineering have shrunk by 99%. Instead of a year, it takes a few weeks to conduct experiments and basically everybody with a lab can do it. [3:26 - 3:37]

It's hard to get across how big a technical revolution CRISPR is. It literally has the potential to change humanity forever. [3:38 - 3:45]