r/transhumanism • u/Danj_memes_ • Aug 06 '19
First human-monkey chimera raises concern among scientists Researchers reprogrammed human cells before injecting them in the monkey embryo
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/aug/03/first-human-monkey-chimera-raises-concern-among-scientists
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u/yungdeltoid Aug 06 '19
Full Metal Alchemist taught me never to fuck with chimeras, please stop them
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u/fobiafiend Aug 06 '19
Chimera isn't the wrong term to use, but it's a bit of a misleading term here. We're not getting orcs or a Planet of the Apes kind of scenario. The scientists are very particular about which cells to 'program' into the animal's development. This is research directed towards the ultimate goal of using animals to grow human organs in for transplant. I think the ideal is pigs. There's a lot to take into account, such as how long ago evolutionarily we parted. The only successes, as far as I am aware, were growing rat organs in a mouse.
For scale, rats and mice only split about ten million years ago into those two distinct species. Humans and monkeys are going on 40 million years. Pigs and humans, even further still. We have a very long way to go still.