NPR reported on the most important scientific breakthrough, which provides important insights into how animal cells and human cells develop and communicate with each other. The aim of the experiment was to help researchers understand the evolution of cells and determine if there is a way to grow organs for transplantation, as the demand for organs so often exceeds the supply.
Image credit: Weizhi Ji / Kunming University of Science and Technology
The study gave the group a better understanding of early human development, which could eventually lead to further advances in medical science, as scientists strive to find new ways to produce organs for transplants. Insoo Hyun, a bioethicist who supported the study, stressed the importance of the research by highlighting the deaths that occur year after year due to organ deficiencies.
This is not the first time that human cells have been implanted in other animals; usually human cells are injected into sheep and pig embryos, but in this case monkeys have been used because they are more closely related to humans in terms of genetics. . However, this particular mixed species embryo sparked an ethical debate among scientists who expressed concern about the experiment.
Kristin Matthews, a fellow in science and technology at the Baker Institute of Rice University, gave a summary of the problems that have arisen in the science community over the basis of the study. “I think the public is going to be worried,” she said. “And I’m also like we’re just moving forward with science without having a proper conversation about what we should do or not do.”
“Should it be regulated as a human because it contains a significant proportion of human cells? Or should it just be regulated as an animal? Or something else?” Matthews asked further as she pondered where the research might lead us in the future. “At what point do you take something and use it for organs when it actually starts thinking and has logic?”
Belmonte acknowledged the ethical concerns, but stressed that his team only intended to create the embryo for research. “Our goal is not to generate any new organism, no sample,” he explained. “And we do not do such a thing. We try to understand how cells of different organisms communicate with each other.”
If you ask which side of the debate social media falls on, it seems that a large number of people are in the same pool of thought: that the planet of the apes is on the verge of becoming a reality. Many on Twitter have jokingly expressed their concern about the possibility of the fictional story coming to life, especially the part about intelligent monkeys rising up against humans.
“Almost a great idea for a movie … could call it the Planet of the Apes,“ a person tweeted, as another clapped: “Well, in the original and most recent iterations of the Planet of the Apes movies, it all started with a global pandemic.” The Walking Dead Twitter Account took the opportunity to assure his followers that “we will have Planet of the Apes before we have a zombie apocalypse.”However, it remains to be seen what might happen if a monkey gets the chance to play a video game in his own mind. Elon Musk may soon have the answer for us, as he claims that one of his companies implanted a device in a monkey’s brain in the hopes of having it play ‘mind pong’ with another cyborg monkey to to test a technology that treats brain and spinal injuries.
Adele Ankers is a freelance entertainment journalist. You can reach her Twitter.