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Human Animal Hybrid Created in Lab
guanno writes "National Geographic has an article stating that... "Scientists have begun blurring the line between human and animal by producing chimeras--a hybrid creature that's part human, part animal."
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This is false advertising - when most people think Chimera they think Dongeons and Dragons etc. They even have a picture of a lion with the head of a goat and the tail as a serpant.
So I read this article and it talks about cells in petri dishes and mice with 1% human brains (which, from what I've read, is a bit of a downgrade).
I think that there's no sense in starting an uproar over "creating new species" and "playing god" yet. A petri dish is ever so slightly different from a goat-lion-serpant or a girlfriend with the head of a shark.
Before you all start concocting fantasies about bizarre creatures from the morally and ethically bankrupt future...
For example, faulty human heart valves are routinely replaced with ones taken from cows and pigs. The surgery--which makes the recipient a human-animal chimera--is widely accepted
Chimera was beaten by Belerephontis (sp? i know the greek name only) and his horse, Pegasus.
And
So it makes sense to use it in this context.
Slashdot Sig. version 0.1alpha. Use at your own risk.
Haven't these people seen the movie yet?
First Glofish, now this... wtf!
Only 'flamers' flame!
Does slashdot hate my posts?
Our DNA, and the DNA of most multicellular animals are filled with viral leftovers. Researchers are investigating how such viral genes may influence evolution. It's nothing particular amazing.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
> We barely understand the human brain. Shouldn't
> we grasp it a little more before we go shoving
> them into other animals.
It is to understand the human brain that researchers do this, for goodness sake.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
That could be a real big problem, and might lead to a spontaneous miscarriage, especially if blood types are incompatible.
There are a few known examples of XY/XX Chimeras if memory serves, though I don't really remember how physical characteristics developed.
Scarier yet, there are conjoined twins that share what looks to be a single torso and legs, looking like one body with two heads. Apparently the girls have seperate ribcages and upper organs, but their backbones merge into a single pelvis, and their digestive systems combine somewhere in there. They each control one arm and one leg on each one's side of their body. Since the girls have always been this way they've gotten good at coordinating to allow them to function to the point of playing slowpitch softball with family. I don't doubt that life will always be difficult for them to keep individual, considering their extreme fusing, but they are mentally seperate.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
You might want to double-check that...
Killing any fetus before birth is an abortion. Pregnant dogs (aka "bitches") can have abortions.
The stegosaurus had much more brain-room than we did. Yet, it was as dumb as a rock. Intelligence is related closer to brain/body proportion than "absolute" brain size. Granted, these mice may not be talking or solving differential equations -- but we can't say anything about consciousness.
Massive networking attempt for friends
because we have brains a few thousand times larger than mice, not because of any special virtue of our brain tissue, and our brain cells are certainly not going to be optimal for controlling a mouse's body and living as a mouse
Wrong.
Your argument at best is an oversimplification.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
Ever heard of the phrase "cow tipping?
Ever done it? I'd bet a bundle you haven't! For those who believe this bullshit (pun intended), take a look at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_tipping
Just another day in Paradise
Consider it double-checked. I distinctly remember it from my biology textbook, I thought it was quite fascinating and did some further study. It is infact called Chimera as he describes.
"Also, I read in the article that they're thinking of making a mouse with a human brain? I'm wondering a couple things. A) Is this mouse-person going to have the same experience as a human would, albeit in a mouse's body?"
In a word, no. *Really* RTFA: "Before being born, the mice would be killed and dissected to see if the architecture of a human brain had formed. If it did, he'd look for traces of human cognitive behavior."
Ignorance is curable, stupid is forever.
The Japanese discovered many new and interestign things about ballistics by shooting chinese civilians. the death toll in china from the japanese occupation range from 20-30 million.
Also, A lot of America's golden age of the 50's came directly out of stolen german scientists and science. Mengala actually contributed a lto to modern medicine btu through horribl horrible research. Nasa owes the German rocket program a lot, and at the time the Germans were two generations ahead of everybody else in almost every field except crytography and physics.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Chimeras are not a new concept; my high school biology textbook mentions the technique, and it's 11 years old now. I suspect that human chimeras have been tried before. Being first on the record isn't the same as being first.
This is the Uplift Saga...ok without the aliens...for now...
s /-/10/ref=pd_sr_ec_ser_b/102-8381395-8756106/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/serie
Just FYI I've been working on patents for this technology for over 10 years (and I entered into the field well after they'd started on these explorations). Science has been producing these chimeras for some time; the fact that the technology is being publicly reported in this way means that some people are obviously ready to start business plans and profit from the research. Original technology tended to focus on practical applications such as developing "materials" for various military, industrial and research purposes, robotics and computers etc. (brains and other body parts); and for adaptations to experiment with developing controlled food sources and medical/health controls (as Monsanto and others are now doing with patenting food crops and explorations into tying that into developing food animals and humans genetically requiring those specific food crops or being unable to consume other natural food sources; or requiring use of medical products they hold the patents and production rights on). Some of it could be beneficial; some is evil for the sake of The Mighty Dollar and other dark purposes. But there's no stopping it.