Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Scientists Give Human Organs to Lamb

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the island-of-dr.-moreau dept.

TK Interior writes "Myrtle Beach Online reports the existence of a lamb-human chimera-- a blend of two different species. Not only has a lamb been given a human liver and heart, but mice are sporting human brain cells. At what level is a chimera 'too' human? Where do you draw the line between human and animal? How will this affect evolution?"

11 of 589 comments (clear)

  1. Seen them before by oexeo · · Score: 5, Funny

    These things aren't new, they've been posting on /. for years!

  2. I don't like it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    This can only be ba-a-a-a-ad.

  3. Too human? by Saven+Marek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Too human is perhaps the point when, if, we get to making an animal that can perform as the midspecies link between two diseases?

    A disease that affects sheep maybe can gestate over years in a flock of sheep and then suddenly because they have many human organs its affecting humans too. It opens a door of potentials not all of which are good

    The nets biggest nude anime gallery's

  4. lamb with a human liver is no more human... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    than a human with a pig heart is a pig. It's about DNA, not body parts.

    1. Re:lamb with a human liver is no more human... by HalfFlat · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No it's not about DNA.

      Such thinking is behind all the current nonsense concerning abortion and stem cells research.

      If you believe DNA is what determines human-ness, then all the cellular detritus that you leave scattered about every day is just as human as you are. You would have to claim that the snot you pick out of your nose has the same human rights as your mother. It's just daft.

      What counts as human is not the DNA.

      What constitutes human then? The sensible answer is my view (and others) is that it depends upon the thing's ability to be part of a society with other 'humans', and to have qualities such as empathy, self-consciousness and the like which are regarded as human qualities. Without those, a thing is no more human than its DNA might be.

      I imagine that every time I sneeze, I eject more 'human' than there is in a 3-day old embryo -- by the DNA line of reasoning. It's just silly.

      DNA is simply something that current humans have in common. Given how unimportant it really is, it seems quite possible in the future that there will be (human-constructed) things which are human in all the important senses, even if they don't have the same DNA as my toe-nail clippings.

  5. Yay! by Hamster+Of+Death · · Score: 5, Funny

    I welcome our 5 assed overlords!

  6. Evolution by Claire-plus-plus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "How will this affect evolution?"

    Many things effect evolution... Medical science has been effecting evolution for a very long time as people who would have died because of genetic illness have lived on through medical science. The human species has not had real natural selection for a long time because we do not die from genetic problems as often.

    The only evolution humans are likely to undergo is a scary one. Stupid people are having more children than smart people, therefore people are going to get stupider. Maybe it's already happened

    --
    99 bottles of beer in 175 characte
    1. Re:Evolution by Ralph+Yarro · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The human species has not had real natural selection for a long time because we do not die from genetic problems as often.

      Nonsense. You might as well claim that birds don't face natural selection because their parents feed them as babies instead of letting them starve or that that they don't face natural selection because their nests help keep them warm.

      A bunch of people helping each other to survive is a product of natural selection, not its absence.

      Part of our environment is now the existence of hospitals and scientists. Some people thrive in that environment who would die childless in other environments. Again, this is natural selction at work.

      --

      The real Ralph Yarro posts as Anonymous Coward. Anyone else is an impostor.
  7. Goat Sheep by CGP314 · · Score: 5, Informative

    In science, an animal is a chimera if the cells throughout the animal are from two different animals. This is accomplished by mixing the zygotes (see the geep). You don't get a chimera through organ transplant.


    -Colin

  8. Re:But the Scotsmen will..... by K1-V116 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Or so the Scots would have it. ;)

    Never heard this old saw?: "Why do Scotsmen wear kilts? Because sheep can hear a zipper a mile away...."

    And yes, I have Scotch blood, so I'm allowed to poke fun. Or is that Scotch in my blood? Bother....I can never remember.

    --

    Got mead?

  9. Re:But the Scotsmen will..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    -East Coast Americans believe it's the West Virginians
    -For Canadians, I've heard it's the "Newfies" (Newfoundlanders)
    -In England it's the Welsh
    -The Irish think it's the Scottish
    -The Scottish think it's the Aussies
    -Aussies and New Zealanders accuse each other having intimate relations with Lamb Chop on a regular basis
    -and, apparently South Africans think we Aussies are the sheep-fuckers...

    If you think about it, it's really the sheep who are the sluts.