Blending Mice and Men

An anonymous reader sends in this piece about chimeras - not the ones with a THAC0 of 11, but a more general term meaning any multi-creature hybrid. A comprehensive look at the moral and scientific issues surrounding this area of biotech.

Comments

Re:THAC0?

[Romothecus]

Actually, your post is only half correct. THAC0 is analagous to what is now called attack bonus; THAC0 stood for "To Hit Armor Class 0." Armor Class was still armor class, however, a lower armor class was better and 0 was considered the best non-magical AC (a human wearing full plate had a AC of 0, as I recall.)

Re:They've been around 3 billion years or so

[shawb]

And then there's the whole issue of mitochondria/chlorplasts. Those were originally single celled organisms that got absorbed by another single cell organism, but then reproduced rather than being consumed.

The resulting Chimera passes down both the "host" organism plus the mitochondria/chloroplasts with their own unique DNA from the cell proper.

End result: Now these two once foreign cells are essentially the powerhouse of modern life. Chloroplasts are where plants actually convert light energy into chemical energy (stored as sugar) and mitochondria are where plants and animals (and most other assorted organisms as well) then convert sugars into readilly available energy, ATP (Adenosine TriPhosphate.)