A HANDHELD device could spot a potential new type of bioweapon made feasible by the latest gene- editing technology.

Researchers around the world are using CRISPR to make gene drives – bits of DNA that, when inserted into a living thing, can bypass the normal rules of genetic inheritance to spread widely in a population within just a few generations.

Gene drives could be used for good, for example to stop the spread of malaria by adding a gene to mosquitoes that renders all …