For answering this question, I have thought about the frequency of which certain techniques have been used in studies to conduct their findings. And I have come up with discoveries and techniques such as fluorescent proteins, GAL4-UAS system, and finally CRISPR. Since the first two have been around and utilized for a long time now, their applications and significance are quite clear. In some ways, the ways in which we can use fluorescent proteins and GAL4-UAS system has been saturated; in other words, I cannot think of further new applications that we haven’t already done so (frankly, if I could think of any new application for existing techniques, I’d be publishing my paper). Now going back to CRISPR, it’s a new technique has only been implemented recently, yet has been gaining traction at an unbelievable rate. The potentials and applications of CRISPR are mind-blowing, ranging from curing genetic diseases to improving upon the genomes of virtually any organism including humans. It’s a technique that allows the user to act like a ‘God’ of some sort, making specific changes to genomes that evolved for millions of year, in a matter of days or weeks with the introduction of a few cleverly designed constructs. All that being said, before anything, we have to be weary of potential dangerous of such modifications due to our still limited understanding of various systems. It may seem cliché to choose CRISPR as the most impactful discover but I truly believe that it is one of the most significant breakthroughs in science.