
Scientists have put human brain genes in monkeys - Vaslo
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613277/chinese-scientists-have-put-human-brain-genes-in-monkeysand-yes-they-may-be-smarter/
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noir_lord
> “Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you
> put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying 'End-of-
> the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH', the paint wouldn't even have time to
> dry.” (Thief of Time - Sir Terry Pratchett).

That's a quote that I find myself thinking about at least once or twice a
month.

~~~
hodder
This is also why I hypothesize that at least one human clone is likely to
exist or have existed. Cloning technology exists, and humans have therefore
probably tried it somewhere.

~~~
wcoenen
Cloning primates is difficult because the proteins that guide chromosomes
during cell division are not scattered throughout the cell like for other
mammals, and this causes problems when the nucleus of an egg cell is
replaced[1]

Researchers only reported successful cloning of monkeys in January 2018 [2].
(So _if_ cloned humans exist already, they were likely born in the last few
months.)

[1] [https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2003/04/problem-cloning-
prim...](https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2003/04/problem-cloning-primates)

[2]
[https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-01027-z](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-01027-z)

~~~
inciampati
That is an interesting issue. However, there is another technique to create
cloned mammals that has is used industrially to create non chimeric mice from
embryonic stem cell cultures. A donor blastocyst is used as a host. At a
particular stage of development, implanting a number of ES cells from the
desired clone into the center of the blastocyst induces the donor blastocyst
to develop into the placenta, while the ES cells continue development as the
fetus. This allows for engineering of the ES cells independently, without
failure prone nuclear transfer. It would be interesting to know if this would
work in primates. It may be difficult to maintain the ES cell cultures. It
might also be riskier in some sense. I'm curious what others know about this.

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murderfs
There have been a few attempts to create a human/chimpanzee hybrid:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanzee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanzee)

~~~
ColanR
Found this in an old version of the page, after it was referenced in one of
the citations.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Humanzee&diff=pre...](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Humanzee&diff=prev&oldid=424824150)

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gtirloni
> "The draft regulations, issued by the National Health Commission on 26
> February, state that gene editing in any type of cell _that will end up in
> humans_ , including embryos, will need the commission’s approval, as will
> other high-risk biomedical procedures."

First loophole in the proposed regulation[0]?

[https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00773-y](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00773-y)

~~~
bryanrasmussen
So any gene editing of a cell that ends up somewhere else, but with human
components, is good. I guess you can learn a lot that way.

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HocusLocus
"Sounds like a good idea."

"Because... everything is a great idea...?"

"Exactly!"

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m_ransing
Am I the only one thinking of Planet of Apes?

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iamcurious
More complete article: [https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613277/chinese-
scientists...](https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613277/chinese-scientists-
have-put-human-brain-genes-in-monkeysand-yes-they-may-be-smarter/)

~~~
sctb
Thanks, we've updated the link from
[https://www.brecorder.com/2019/04/11/488194/scientists-
put-h...](https://www.brecorder.com/2019/04/11/488194/scientists-put-human-
gene-into-monkeys-to-make-them-smarter-human-like/).

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DerekL
“Planet of the Apes” is not part of the title.

~~~
sctb
Thanks! Removed.

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sanbor
It doesn't sounds like an _smart_ move.

