Scientists Create Early Embryos That Are Part Human, Part Monkey

[iemanja]

For the first time, scientists have created embryos that are a mix of human and monkey cells.

The embryos, described Thursday in the journal Cell, were created in part to try to find new ways to produce organs for people who need transplants, says the international team of scientists who collaborated in the work. But the research raises a variety of concerns.

"My first question is: Why?" says Kirstin Matthews, a fellow for science and technology at Rice University's Baker Institute. "I think the public is going to be concerned, and I am as well, that we're just kind of pushing forward with science without having a proper conversation about what we should or should not do."

. . .

"This is one of the major problems in medicine — organ transplantation," says Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a professor in the Gene Expression Laboratory of the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences in La Jolla, Calif., and a co-author of the Cell study. "The demand for that is much higher than the supply."

. . .

"Our goal is not to generate any new organism, any monster," Belmonte says. "And we are not doing anything like that. We are trying to understand how cells from different organisms communicate with one another."

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/04/15/987164563/scientists-create-early-embryos-that-are-part-human-part-monkey?utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=npr&fbclid=IwAR1pcI9v3EiczzeKMmysp6G6o_6k8y3_XGhz4bSxKYJPXO7q6N0_spFYtJM

Somehow I don't think this will end well.

[Dream Girl]

1. This seems like a great idea!

🙃 wat could go wrong?

[Dan]

2. Damn, more GOP voters...

[iemanja]

4. :)

[Fullduplexxx]

8. I think they will still be smarter the your average republicon

[Tommy Carcetti]

3. Bigfoot does not exist. Yet.

But apparently he will?

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

5. Excellent choice for long space travel, prehensile tail could be handy

Radiation protection would be high on the list, need some cockroach, armadillo shell thrown in the soup too.

Get this party started!

[Auggie]

6. "Fools ... you don't know what you're dealing with."*

*Guaranteed dialogue heard in every sci-fi film just before the shit hits the fan

[abqtommy]

7. Well, it's my understaqnding that us hoomans already share 98% of our DNA with our

closest great ape relatives, the chimpanzees. Make it an 93% match with the other
monkeys. We're already family*.

I know that pig heart valves have already been used on hoomans but I don't like this
scientific messing around. At. All.

* https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics

The above site is very useful in many ways, such as explaining the variations in hooman
skin color.

[ck4829]

10. This is a godsend

My nephew, 6 years old, may need a liver transplant before he is 18. He is one of many with what could be a critical need that is more about luck than anything else and the idea that he has to get really bad before he is even line for that liver is unacceptable.

And you know what? I don’t see the people who have clearly watched too many movies working on any alternatives for this issue.

[tavernier]

11. He didn't win. Why do we keep talking about him?

[Crunchy Frog]

14. LOL!

[ColinC]

12. Is this the beginning of the Saiyajin?

[Carlitos Brigante]

13. Insert your "I for one welcome our new......." comment here: ____________ nt

[ellie]

15. But why?

[crickets]

16. Just because you can do a thing doesn't necessarily mean you should. nt

[greenjar_01]

17. Soon...