This blog may help people explore some of the 'hidden' issues involved in certain media treatments of environmental and scientific issues. Using personal digital images, it's also intended to emphasise seasonal (and other) changes in natural history of the Swansea (South Wales) area. The material should help participants in field-based modules and people generally interested in the natural world. The views are wholly those of the author.
Friday 16 April 2021
Lights, Chimeras, Action?
Chimeras are not mythological creatures. Biologically speaking, they happen when the cells of one species are fused with those of another animal. The ethical debate seems to have been reignited with news that Professor Belmonte (US Salk Institute) has produced new chimeras by inserting induced human stem cells into Long-tailed macaque embryos (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/apr/15/human-cells-grown-monkey-embryos-reignite-ethics-debate). The human cells in Belmonte's human-macaque chimeras grew and multiplied. He hopes his studies will produce information on how the mixtures of cells communicate. Belmonte suggests this might facilitate effective chimera production, combining human cells with non-primate species. Chimera enthusiasts hope these entities will prove useful for growing 'human' organ transplants in other animals. Pigs and sheep are among the suggested possibilities. Belmonte's embryos were grown in Petri dishes and were destroyed 19 days after their production. People are concerned, however, that others might be tempted to let such human-ape chimera development go on much longer. This technology clearly opens a Pandora's box.
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North Yorkshire's Drax electricity-generating station was an enormous coal-fired plant, later converted to burn 'biomass'. In ...
1 comment:
Sorry, this sounds freaky. Open to much abuse.
Frankenstein springs to mind.....
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