Friday, January 27, 2017

The Island of Dr. Moreau Sequel

1/27/17 Los Angeles Times:
In a bid to make organs for patients in need of transplants, scientists have created embryos that were hybrids of humans and pigs and grown them until they were on the verge of developing the body parts that might one day save lives.
Researchers reported Thursday in the journal Cell that they injected pig embryos with human stem cells that were capable of developing into a wide range of tissues. Those composite embryos were then transferred into the wombs of mother pigs.
By the time the scientists harvested the embryos after four weeks, the human stem cells had established beachheads throughout the developing pigs. As a blob of fetal pig tissue reached the cusp of developing into a cluster of distinct organs, human cells appeared throughout the tiny organism, ready to contribute to the generation of organs.
Does anyone else find this troubling?

7 comments:

  1. My state has had a law against human-animal hybrids for some time now. I hadn't expected it to be relevant so soon.

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  2. Troubling in the extreme. Presumably if they are not killed in time, eventually some will grow into viable pig human hybrids. Muslims and people who view 1984 as a how-to manual rather than a cautionary tale will be quite interested.

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  3. Looking at Congress, pig-human hybrids have been around for quite a while.

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  4. You and I laugh about transspeciephobia, but if the DNC ever gets control again I bet they would also add that to the LGBTQ agenda. For example, look at all these weirdos that are getting tats and surgeries to make themselves look like cats, reptiles, etc! I've even seen a few of those crazies in Boise!

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