Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Mouse With Human Brain May Live
Animals have been getting a real work-out in science lately. Methuselah
mice are helping humanity with aging, pigs
are trying artificial corneas and monkeys
get gene manipulations that force them to work hard with no thought of reward. Now, Stanford University has given famed researcher Irving Weissman permission
to create a mouse-human hybrid. The intent is to inject human brain cells into
the brains of developing mice to see what happens. The National Academy of
Sciences will unveil guidelines on chimera and stem cell research this spring.
Professor Henry T. Greely, director of the Center for Law and the Biosciences and leader of the committee that considered the proposal, told the San Jose Mercury News, "We concluded that if we see any signs of human brain structures . . . or if
the mouse shows human-like behaviors, like improved memory or problem-solving,
it's time to stop."
This is a good idea; all students of science fiction and 1990's Saturday morning cartoons know full well what happens when mice start getting ideas:
(Are you pondering what I'm pondering?)
I hope, dear reader, that you will forgive me for not being able to pass that one up. Certainly, I take seriously the whole idea of such a creation, called a chimera after the lion/goat/serpent combo popularized in Greek mythology.
And, in the interests of intellectual rigor, I point out that perhaps the earliest reference to the idea that a chimera could be a product of science is that of the "monsters manufactured" in H.G. Well's 1896 novel The Island of Dr. Moreau:
"...It is not simply the outward form of an animal which I can change. The physiology, the chemical rhythm of the creature, may also be made to undergo an enduring modification,--of which vaccination and other methods of inoculation with living or dead matter are examples that will, no doubt, be familiar to you."
(read more about monsters manufactured and chimerae)
I'm not sure why scientists are fixated on the idea that small rodents can help humanity, but I've been seeing it a lot lately. Besides the Methuselah mouse example mentioned earlier, rat neurons in a dish are being taught how to fly planes; and hairless mice have been used to grow human ears:
(Can you hear me now? Good!)
Read a bit more at Stanford researcher wants to create human-mouse hybrid.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 2/16/2005)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 14 )
Related News Stories - (" Medical ")
3D Printed Organs From Space
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
Health Kiosk Has No Human Doctor
'The electronic body analyzer had been developed...' - Michael Crichton, 1969.
NEO Brain Computer Interface (BCI)
'The remains of the lace took on the rough shape of a brain...' - Iain Banks, 2010.
MIT Computerized Bionic Leg Is Part Of The User
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain, through the mediation of the electronic brain in the leg.' - Charles Recour, 1949.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
You Will Eat The Cookies Made From Plastic...
'Our planes are going to start bringing in bales of discarded plastics...'
It's A Giant Robot! You Reporters Have Been Warned!
'... completely forgetting the ship at sight of the awesome figure and great head of the giant Gaut...'
Birds Learn To Sing Pictures ala Frank Herbert's Distrans
'We will fight in the time of fighting.'
ElectionSim: China's 'Ender's Game' Battle Sim, Or Lem's 'Kingdom In A Box'?
'So, Ender, we will now begin your education.'
Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!'
Flock Stymied By 'Adversarial Fashion'
'Forget the head atop it, the legs below, feet, arms, hands. It compels erasure.'
Orb Nomad Zero-Emission Electric Aircraft
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair or to perch on a flagpole in imitation of a giant bird, even in the windy city of Chicago.'
ICE Buys Shock Gloves Like Batman's
What else is the Caped Crusader using?
Factories In The Sky Will Surpass Those Of Earth
'The thirty-odd miles of The Factory’s circumference...'
Sleeper Drones Lie in Wait
'Wandering mines, you took them out on the edge of the desert, set them down and activated them.'
Warfare Goes Underground In Ukraine
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
Robot Bees 3D Printed By Festo
'At first I was struck by the large size of these bees..'
3D Printed Organs From Space
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
How To Settle An Argument Between Two Robots
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'
The Wind Phone Calls Those Who Have Passed On
'Only I heard that!'
