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Scientists Create Sheep That Are 15 Percent Human

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Mon Mar 26, 2007 04:11 PM
from the dollie-partof dept.
Science News
anthemaniac writes "Professor Esmail Zanjani and colleagues at the University of Nevada-Reno have created sheep that are 15 percent human at the cellular level. Half the organs in the sheep are human. The idea, of course, is to harvest those organs to transplant into human patients. From the article: 'He has already created a sheep liver which has a large proportion of human cells and eventually hopes to precisely match a sheep to a transplant patient, using their own stem cells to create their own flock of sheep.' One scientists worries, however, that the work could lead to new viruses that cross from animals to humans."
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  • This worries me (Score:5, Funny)

    by Harmonious Botch (921977) * on Monday March 26 2007, @04:12PM (#18493083) Homepage Journal
    I can't figure out if it means we'll have more republicans or more democrats, but either way it worries me.

    • I'm more worried ... (Score:5, Funny)

      by khasim (1285) <brandioch.conner@gmail.com> on Monday March 26 2007, @04:15PM (#18493137)
      about its effects on the international haggis market.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by errxn (108621)
      Either that, or more journalists. I hear that they're about 15% human.
    • Why does an Australian/Kiwi wear gumboots? So the sheep can't run away when you shag it!

      Does this mean sheep shagging is no longer bestiality? OTOH, if it is human, a sheep dies long before reaching the age of consent so you'd get in trouble for sex with a minor.

    • Re:This worries me (Score:5, Funny)

      by had3l (814482) on Monday March 26 2007, @04:56PM (#18493869)
      Hah, in Soviet Russia, humans are 100% sheep.
    • Neither. They'll all have matching black wool and berets, and become fine-arts majors expressing their individuality.

        • Re:This worries me (Score:5, Funny)

          by NMerriam (15122) <NMerriam@artboy.org> on Monday March 26 2007, @04:49PM (#18493759) Homepage

          Are there really so many atheists on the internet


          it is admittedly disproportionate representation, since the true believers are still checking the Bible to figure out which of the Internets to sign up for.

            • Re:This worries me (Score:5, Interesting)

              by Fordiman (689627) <fordiman@nOspaM.gmail.com> on Monday March 26 2007, @10:21PM (#18496969) Homepage Journal
              Chill. I doubt he fears you or your arguments - especially that they seem to come from a sense of frustration.

              And it's true. Mostly, atheists are talking to each other when making logical arguments against religion - mostly to provide each of us with "make the proseltyzer feel stupid so he'll leave me alone" ammo.

              Most of us realize that you'll drop the imaginary friend in your own time, or maybe you won't; either way, nothing we say will change it. For that segment of us, it's to create a bullet-proof anti-preacher sheild. What fun is it, for example, to be told you're going to hell if you don't have a good argument as to why hell probably doesn't exist?

              That said, the majority of us aren't really looking for an argument. We know arguments happen; we're quite outnumbered in the world, and it's very hard to keep the fact that you don't actually believe in God to yourself. You know. It comes up - and nine times out of ten, when it does, you end up getting the third degree by someone who was satisfied with 'Because God made it that way' for their whole lives or the 'flavor of the month' theist who is newly converted and wants to share (read: force) her new insights with you. Initially, argument prep is self-defence, though it often migrates to preemptive defense and outright flaming.

              We should be more mature than that, and in fact, most of us are. It's just that, like any group, you get the teenagers and the adults who never left high school who are so damned sure of themselves that they can't be bothered to respect the choices of others.

              I try to reprimand my fellow atheists occasionally when they step out of line; responses to insane proseltyzing that includes threats of damnation don't get rebuffed, but once in a while you'll get the genuinely curious question about atheism and the vitrolic atheist auto-reponse - and I'll shoot that down every time.

              I can't moderate all the 'fuck God!' posts. I'd go crazy. But I just want to let you know that most of us aren't actually like that. We're good, normal people who just happen to not believe in a deity or deities.
              • You can't moderate this post either. 'Cause you posted. (Of course if I had mod points I could ..., but only 'cause I'm a coward.)

                FUCK GOD! Real geeks who want an imaginary friend believe in the Invisible Pink Unicorn.
        • Why don't you ask your sheppard?

  • Sweet! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by AxemRed (755470) on Monday March 26 2007, @04:13PM (#18493093)
    We're one step closer to real sheeple.

    • Re:Sweet! (Score:5, Funny)

      by dattaway (3088) on Monday March 26 2007, @04:16PM (#18493161) Homepage
      Next we are going to have to send the sheep to public schools. And humans are going to complain that they are taking over our jobs.

      • Re:Sweet! (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Beardo the Bearded (321478) on Monday March 26 2007, @05:44PM (#18494459)
        Upset the food chain?

        They feed chickens to cows, cows to chickens, fish to both, and GM corn with antibiotics to the chickens in the first place. The food chain looks like a fractal, not a line with humans at the top.

        This won't fuck up the food chain any more than we already have.

        And if I was dying (at a faster rate than the default) then I'd try out any new thing that could give me hope or maybe help out some other folks after me. So what if I have a sheep's liver, a robotic heart, and an embedded neural stabilizer?

        • Re:Sweet! (Score:4, Interesting)

          by ThomK (194273) on Tuesday March 27 2007, @07:52AM (#18499987) Homepage Journal

          They feed chickens to cows, cows to chickens, fish to both, and GM corn with antibiotics to the chickens in the first place. The food chain looks like a fractal, not a line with humans at the top.

          I totally agree, which is why I'm a Vegan. I switched about a year and a half ago and have since lost 70 pounds (I started out at 240) and my cholesterol and heart rate are down the line perfect. I'm not a PETA supporter, I still wear leather, I can not stand most animals and for the most part am just an average Joe. I'm not a Vegan for the sake of the animals, I'm a Vegan for my own well being.

          The book at this link: http://www.drfuhrman.com/weightloss/about.aspx/ [drfuhrman.com] convinced me to become Vegan. If you are having any health problems (like sleep apnea or type 2 diabetes) you should run, not walk, to amazon.com to buy that book (I think you can get it used for under $5), it will change your life.

          There is a lot of confusing information about diet out there, this book cuts through all that and basically tells you what's up. I want to walk up to overweight people and shake them and say "There's a better way! Read this!"

          To end my commercial (for which I get paid nothing) I'd say: It has a very "Hack your body" feel to it, which is perfect for the Slashdot crowd. He goes into the details of the numbers of calories, nutrients, protein, fat, sugar, etc. It's an amazingly fast read, especially for a technical person.

            • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

              by cliffski (65094)
              Research is welcome, and great, but big business does not work to the long timescales required to ensure that the research is thorough and poses no risks to humans. You only have to see the feverish way in which GM Food companies try to ram their product into europe, against firm customer resistance, to realise that what seems to really matter is the bottom line, not health, safety or curing diseases.
              I'd love to be able to read about this kind of research, happy that its being carreid out with the right mot

  • !5%.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by fudgefactor7 (581449) on Monday March 26 2007, @04:14PM (#18493119)
    So, at what percentage does the sheep begin to obtain certain "unalienable rights"? Or; "When is a toaster not a toaster?"
     
    And yes, I'm aware that "unalienable" is wrong, but it was good enough for the Founding Fathers, so it's good enough for me. Grammar Nazis can keep their mouth shut.

    • If the far pro-lifers can be taken at their word.. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by C10H14N2 (640033) on Monday March 26 2007, @04:18PM (#18493191)
      One cell would suffice.

      Boy is this one going to piss them of no end... /My captcha was "Pounded"

    • Re:!5%.... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by TheMeuge (645043) on Monday March 26 2007, @04:26PM (#18493351) Homepage
      Every time I read articles like this, and get to hear the inevitable mudslinging that ensues, I don't know who I want to beat over the head with a biology textbook - the writers of the article, or the readers.

      These sheep are not 15% human, there is no such thing - they're 15% antigenically identical. There is no percentage at which they will become human, because their basic structure is still of a sheep!

      • Yes, 15% (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Ungrounded Lightning (62228) on Monday March 26 2007, @05:59PM (#18494635) Journal
        These sheep are not 15% human, there is no such thing - they're 15% antigenically identical. There is no percentage at which they will become human, because their basic structure is still of a sheep!

        These are not hybrids or the result of genetic engineering. They are chimeras: Organisms composed of two separate clone of cells. Some of the cells are 100% human, some are 100% sheep. The total animal has 15% of its cells being 100% human (surface antigens and all), not 100% of its cells having 15% human traits. (The immune system matured in the presence of both so it doesn't attack either.)

        The cells are in coherent lumps, too. Entire organs - including the brain - may be 100% human tissue. (Though they may be morphologically similar to the sheep equivalent because they were exposed mainly to sheep growth factors while forming.)
  • Please, just don't... don't give them brains. That would be BAAAAAD!

  • Science and Sensationalism... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by posterlogo (943853) on Monday March 26 2007, @04:17PM (#18493163)
    When I saw this, I thought the amazing thing was how the human organs managed to maintain much of their functionality in sheep. The idea of harvesting them for later use back in humans seems cool, but sensationalist at this point. IMHO, the most remarkable thing here is that one could get a very realistic model of human diseases in animals, upon which to dissect out the mechanisms of diseases and look for/test treatments.

  • How to flirt with the sheeple (Score:5, Funny)

    by L. VeGas (580015) on Monday March 26 2007, @04:18PM (#18493195) Homepage Journal
    Hey, Lamby, you got any human in you?

    Just 15%? What do you say we make it 20?

  • Sheep-Human disease transfer? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by RyanFenton (230700) on Monday March 26 2007, @04:18PM (#18493199)
    I hope they isolate these sheep from other sheep populations. If the diseases can adapt to attack the human organs in the sheep environment, then we've potentially got a very large set of new diseases waiting to trickle in to the human population as they adapt to the new organs.

    I believe there's already been at least one fictional book on this topic already. Ah, here it is. [scottsigler.net]

    Ryan Fenton
  • Now those sheep farmers caught with their pants down lovin' the sheep in the fields won't get charged with bestiality... maybe just jailed for rape instead!

    This is just a fruitcake-land idea... chimeras are BAD BAD BAD

  • At what percentage.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by myth24601 (893486) on Monday March 26 2007, @04:20PM (#18493237)
    When they get to 51% human can you marry them?
  • Well, yes, we're killing sheep but at leas the help is more relevant. A transplanted organ will work for years or decades - a worthy sacrfice. When I eat lambchops I'm hungry just a few hours later.

  • Sheep (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Sporkinum (655143) on Monday March 26 2007, @04:22PM (#18493275)
    "Bleating and babbling I fell on his neck with a scream.
    Wave upon wave of demented avengers
    March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream."

  • This is a good idea, BUT . . . (Score:5, Insightful)

    by cashman73 (855518) on Monday March 26 2007, @04:22PM (#18493281) Journal
    I would be interested to know whether the right wing right-to-lifers would be pissed off that you're raising innocent animals for the sole purpose of slaughtering and harvesting them for their organs,...

    Or would the left wing animal rights naked PETA supporters be pissed off that you're raising innocent animals for the sole purpose of slaughtering and harvesting them for their organs,...

    On the bright side, we might have actually found an issue that both the left and right wingers actually agree on!

  • brings new meaning to (Score:5, Funny)

    by Kierthos (225954) on Monday March 26 2007, @04:27PM (#18493365) Homepage
    Mary had a little lamb.
    • I can't find the cartoon online, but about last summer Utne Reader ran a small cartoon of a sheep with a human face, and the caption,

      "And With Help From the Transpecies Movement, Mary Became a Little Lamb"

      In all seriousness, Sheep get prion diseases, which advance rather quickly. Am I going to have to be ready to put down my coworkers due to Scrapie [wikipedia.org]?
  • Ok, if I ate a sheep that was 15% human would that make me 15% cannibal?

    And don't go looking at me like it hasn't crossed any of your minds!

  • No probaalem. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Maxo-Texas (864189) on Monday March 26 2007, @04:49PM (#18493753)
    I don't see a probaalem with doing this. It sounds useful and baaenificial.

  • Coincides with release of "Black Sheep" nicely. (Score:3, Informative)

    by vik (17857) on Monday March 26 2007, @04:50PM (#18493781) Homepage Journal
    A mock-horror film about genetically modified sheep turning bad, just released:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sheep_(2007_fil m) [wikipedia.org]

    "There are 40 million sheep in New Zealand....and they're pissed off!"

    Vik :v)

  • out of order? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by freaker_TuC (7632) on Tuesday March 27 2007, @02:33AM (#18498461) Homepage Journal
    I would think that's out of order. Ok to procreate but to create new species is beyond our knowledge if we can't even get our own species settled right. To my opinion and it can sound dark; we should not mess too much with crossbreeding ourselves and animals on foodchain; we'd never know what we would become in the future by one stupid little mistake; If any disease gets spread it might be hell to fix this ...

    We should not become what we fear the most, movies like the Matrix where humans are harvested sounds very dark for most among us, why would we do the same on partial sheep/partial human chimera? What makes us have that right anyways ? All in the name of science? ok, we need to improve and survive but why not do it on a less risky way?

    Nature always finds a way to survive, what if this sheep gets loose [apple.com] and interbreeds, gets >15% human? What if it does not comprehend our actions against its sisters? Does it get civilian rights if it gets to a certain amount of humanity?

    • Re:Human arrogance towards life and God (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ksalter (1009029) on Monday March 26 2007, @04:50PM (#18493783)
      Genesis 1:26 & 28 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

        • The Bible XOR Vegetarianism/Veganism (Score:5, Interesting)

          by grolschie (610666) on Monday March 26 2007, @06:42PM (#18495079)
          "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you even as the green herb have I given you all things." - Genesis 9:2-3 [blueletterbible.org]

          "And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. A nd there came a voice to him ``Rise, Peter, kill and eat''." - Acts 10:11-13 [blueletterbible.org]

          "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils: Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth." - 1 Tim 4:1-3 [blueletterbible.org]
    • I want a clear quote that mentions genetic engineering specifically, not just your interpretation of some obscure passage. I mean, seriously, where do you so-called Christians get off making shit up and then claiming, "God said so?" Just because you get creeped out by human-sheep hybrids doesn't mean that God does.

      I'm agnostic. I think if there is a God, he doesn't give a rat's ass what we do. If he did, he would have made it a whole lot clearer. He wouldn't have just had humans write what he said in a book

      • Re:Where in the bible does it say not to do this? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by JAMDoc (1080463) on Monday March 26 2007, @06:19PM (#18494875)
        As a geneticist, this is very exciting, but not as revolutionary as you might think. This is not really a genetically engineered sheep, it is a hybrid, a "chimera". Injected stem cells from a human (from bone marrow) are introduced into a developing sheep such that they take root and join in the sheep's development, replicating and differentiating to form organ tissue which is of human origin. It's more like cell culture than genetic engineering and no one has any problem with cell culture. The mention of the viral concern is very important and could essentially kill or at least delay this whole project if it is not dealt with. Every human and every animal is constantly infected with scads of different viruses (from birth on) that stay with us and do little or no damage to us our whole lives. Recent studies have found that we produce enormous amounts of viral proteins constantly, some of which almost certainly BENEFIT us, odd as it may sound. However, it is not easily predicted what a virus comfortable in sheep might do in a human host. Bottom line however, if the options are risk or death, go with risk. As a Christian, I've got no major problem with this and most Christians who really understand it will agree. We eat these animals and wear their skin and fur as clothing. If anything, this is a way to waste as little as possible. Anyone who has a problem with growing organs in animals better not be eating them or wearing leather... or taking medications, or wearing makeups, or using soap, or etc. etc. (All these things required extensive studies in animals before we ever saw them.) One sheep might feed a family for a week, but in this case, one sheep could save a person's life and save us all $$ that would be spent on anti-rejection drugs. btw:

        didn't God say to dominate nature for our own purposes, putting fear and terror into the hearts of all animals?
        No, He didn't. He assigned us the job of caretaker of earth and its animals/everythings, essentially.

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