File:CRISPR-Somatic-edits-affect-only-the-treated-in-b248357f.jpg

Somatic edits affect only the treated individual; germline edits are inherited by all future descendants, raising profound ethical questions about consent across generations.

AI-generated illustration for CRISPR, made with fal.ai (fal-ai/flux-2-pro).

Prompt: A comparison diagram contrasting somatic and germline gene editing. On one side, a single human figure represents somatic editing, with the genetic change contained only within that individual and no arrows extending to other people. On the other side, a branching family tree of human figures represents germline editing, with the initial edited individual at the top and the genetic modification shown propagating through multiple generations of descendants below, illustrating how a single embryo-level edit becomes a permanent feature of an entire lineage. Style: Detailed digital illustration blending technical schematic linework with painterly atmospheric rendering, as if a scientific textbook were reimagined by a noir graphic novelist. Colour palette of deep midnight blue, charcoal black, and slate grey as foundations, accented with electric teal, bioluminescent green, and cold amber. Lighting is dramatic and directional, suggesting surveillance or laboratory environments — pools of cold light against deep shadow, with occasional glowing circuit-trace highlights. Compositions favour tight framing with layered depth: foreground technical detail dissolving into abstracted background geometry. Detail level is high but purposeful, prioritising legible structure over decorative complexity. Mood is clinical yet ominous, precise yet unsettling. No text, lettering, captions, logos, watermarks or borders unless it is a technical drawing.