Thursday, March 29, 2007

Goeteia -- the dark art of deconstructing nature

Now scientists create a sheep that's 15% human (Daily Mail, March 27, 2007)
Scientists have created the world's first human-sheep chimera - which has the body of a sheep and half-human organs.

The sheep have 15 per cent human cells and 85 per cent animal cells - and their evolution brings the prospect of animal organs being transplanted into humans one step closer.
All of this courtesy of Professor Esmail Zanjani, of the University of Nevada, who has spent seven years and £5million perfecting the technique, which involves injecting adult human cells into a sheep's foetus. Among other things, however, there is this:
Dr. Patrick Dixon, an international lecturer on biological trends, warned: "Many silent viruses could create a biological nightmare in humans. Mutant animal viruses are a real threat, as we have seen with HIV."
[Hat tip to M.F.]

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