Researchers inserted human versions of MCPH1, a gene that scientists believe plays a role in the development of the human brain, into 11 rhesus monkeys.
HONG KONG - Chinese scientists have implanted human brain genes into monkeys, in a study intended to provide insights into the unique evolution of human intelligence.
It was conducted by researchers at the Kunming Institute of Zoology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, working with US researchers at the University of North Carolina.“Our findings demonstrated that transgenic nonhuman primates have the potential to provide important - and potentially unique - insights into basic questions of what actually makes human unique,” the authors wrote.
“To humanise them is to cause harm. Where would they live and what would they do? Do not create a being that can’t have a meaningful life in any context,” she told MIT Technology Review. “The genome of rhesus monkeys differs from ours by a few percent. That’s millions of individual DNA bases differing between humans and monkeys,” he said.“You can decide for yourself whether there is anything to worry about.”
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