Could the impossible become possible?
"A handful of scientists around the United States are trying to do something that some people find disturbing: make embryos that are part human, part animal (chimeras)," according to NPR’s Rob Stein.
Despite the funding ban imposed last September by the NIH (National Institute of Health), a slowdown intended to provide time to research the ethical and social fallout of such experiments, some U.S. research centers are forging ahead with the progress centered must-have of playing grand architect; aka, God.
The process, in brief, is to use a pig as host to create human organs, organs intended for transplant. A developing pig embryo, by way of gene-editing, will have its own genetic pattern for heart, liver, pancreas, etc. removed. Human stem cells, some collected in the aftermath of abortion (ethical?), are introduced into the still-developing pig embryo. The human DNA will then spread throughout its bestial host, asserting itself in those areas predetermined by science (and scientists eager for grant money) as desirable.
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However the kicker, in the realm of transplant, is that iPS cells (adult skin cells that have been modified to behave as embryonic cells, known as "Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells") are the chief source of human DNA. Organs developed by way of one's own DNA are less likely to be rejected by human recipients.
Sounds legitimate. Straight forward.
"We're not trying to make a chimera just because we want to see some kind of monstrous creature," says Pablo Ross, a reproductive biologist at the University of California, Davis. "We're doing this for a biomedical purpose."
But what happens if, or when, the possible occurs? "Ross hopes they'll only grow a human pancreas. But they (the iPS) could go elsewhere, such as to the brain."
That could render the bizarre – like Wilbur the talking pig from Charlotte’s Web – a possibility. And if one considers that splicing together humans and animals to grow organs still seems bizarre and yet is now seeming possible ... well, there's the dilemma. What to do with a pig-man who doesn't want to die, or donate his/her organs? This humorous clip from Seinfeld wouldn't be so funny anymore.
Ross, however, defends his work to Stein. "I don't consider that we're playing God or even close to that," Ross says. "We're just trying to use the technologies that we have developed to improve peoples' life."
Still, Ross acknowledges the concerns. "So he's moving very carefully. For example, he's only letting the chimera embryos develop for 28 days. At that point, he removes the embryos and dissects them. If he discovers the stem cells are going to the wrong places in the embryos, he says he can take steps to stop that from happening. In addition, he'd make sure adult chimeras are never allowed to mate."
Sounds somewhat like the NIH ensuring that the development of chimeras would be forestalled by banning funding. The result? Scientists are pushing forward anyway.
But so too does chaos. In the sage words of Jeff Goldblum’s character from "Jurassic Park," "... life breaks free! Life finds a way."
But we all know that the real motive here is helping people. Not profit.
So ignore ScienceMag's 2013 article by Dennis Normile relating how Japanese genius and stem cell biologist Hiromitsu Nakauchi, formerly of the University of Tokyo, is quoted as saying: "Despite generous government support for regenerative medicine, including work on iPS cells, Japan's conservative bureaucracy doesn't want to take risks."
Darn those conservatives, forever getting in the way of ... progress. Progress that could admittedly lead to the creation of a pig-man. What to do then?
Get funding! Nakuchi, now at Stanford thanks to the lure of dollars, doesn't concern himself with ethical fallout. Nakauchi "... knows that for his research, time is of the essence. His PNAS paper demonstrated the basic principle (regarding the use of Chimeras), and he knows that competitors in other countries are now picking up the ball."
But the ball leading to where? Competition is picking up. But competition for what? Helping mankind or helping oneself to playing God while pretending He and subsequent consequences don't exist?
Is exorcism real?
He said/they said! Mincing words to hide the truth?
According to Yahoo, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that, "William Friedkin, the director of the horror classic 'The Exorcist,' has revealed that he was allowed to film a real exorcism at the Vatican earlier this month.
"The 80-year-old American filmmaker told a masterclass at the Cannes film festival late Thursday that he was invited by Rome's exorcist to record the event. 'I was invited by the Vatican exorcist to shoot and video an actual exorcism which ... few people have ever seen and which nobody has ever photographed.'"
Friedkin said he was taken aback at how close the ceremony was to the exorcism depicted in his 1973 film. "I was pretty astonished by that. I don't think I will ever be the same having seen this astonishing thing. I am not talking about some cult, I am talking about an exorcism by the Catholic Church in Rome."
And yet the Vatican swiftly denied making any such invitation, pointing out that the "Vatican" doesn't have its own exorcists. Such obfuscation doesn't deny the reality that Fiedkin could very well have been invited by an approved exorcist (that is, an exorcist lawfully appointed by his diocese), even an exorcist who resides at the Vatican, to witness a ritual exorcism. Smacks of technicality, not truth. But why the secrecy?
"I'm not Catholic, I don't go to church," Friedkin says. "I don't belong to a church or a synagogue. I do believe in the teachings of Jesus. I believe they are incredibly profound and beautiful and we know that this character (the possessed child, Roland Doe, whose name and sex were changed for the purpose of privacy) existed ... the supernatural aspect I leave to each person's conscience and belief system."
Have a beer
Fish friendly biodegradable six-pack rings! (Drink beer – feed the fish!)
On the far lighter side, the following video from Newsy is an encouragement for this columnist to reconsider canned beer!
You go, guys of Florida's Saltwater Brewery! Technology that is actually good for the environment and doesn't turn human beings into pigmen or leave them vulnerable to those forces that would ravage them.