Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Monkeys Given Human Brain Gene By Chinese Scientists. A Real Story.




There are scientists in China who are working to create a new type of primate. I don't understand this as I thought the type of primates we had were working out just fine. These Chinese scientists have been successful at placing a human brain gene into monkeys. Have these people seen the latest Planet of the Apes movies? Do they realize these movies show how the monkeys arm themselves and engage is some very serious violence? I would suggest they get a Chinese translation of the book La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle. Then they watch the Planet of the Apes movies from 1968 to 1973. When they are done with that, I suggest they watch the latest Planet of the Apes movies from 2001 to 2017. If they are still motivated to put human brain genes into humans, I suggest Hollywood get involved. We need to have a new series of Planet of the Apes movies. How about movies like Planet of the Apes Learn Kung Fu and Takes over Beijing? Maybe, Planet of the Apes and the Battle for Pandas? They could also have a movie like Planet of the Apes and Primates who Provide Acupuncture with Harpoons. I bet they could be coming to a theater sometime soon.

Below are excerpts from the story with my valuable insights in italics.


A study published last month in Beijing's National Science Review journal describes the experiment, which is billed as the "first attempt to experimentally interrogate the genetic basis of human brain origin using a transgenic monkey model, and it values the use of nonhuman primates in understanding human unique traits."


I hope they are careful with what human traits they monkeys develop. The last thing we want is to create monkeys who spend their days eating junk food, playing video games and refusing to move out of the laboratory. It would not be good if they created a female monkey who is promiscuous, drinks too much, smokes and depends on the other monkeys in the laboratory to take care of her and her offspring. I don't want to think about what the world be like if they created a politician monkey.


According to the study, those five monkeys did not show much difference in their general behavior or the size of their brains. But they went through brain scans and memory tests that showed improvements in their short-term memory, reaction times and brain development.

Isn't this a bit discouraging? Monkeys get human genetics and their behavior doesn't change much. Maybe they used genetics from people who like to swing on trees, eat bananas and scream. So, they had better memories and reaction time. I suppose they can now order take-out now and race to the door in a panic when it arrives like a human.


The study says the monkeys have "potential to provide important—and potentially unique—insights into basic questions of what actually makes human unique, as well as into disorders and clinically relevant phenotypes, such as neurodegenerative and social behavior disorders that are difficult to study by other means."

I can only imagine how this shows.

“This monkey likes to drink beer, listen to country music and watch NASCAR.'
“I guess he got some genetics from a person from the south.”
“This monkey likes to surf, drink craft beer and life weights.”
“I guess this monkey got some genetics from someone from southern California.”
“This monkey likes to lie, cheat, scam people, but he is very popular.”
“Someone gave this monkey genetics from a politician?”
“Worse, Hollywood studio executive.”
“Oh.”


But the study also set off a debate about genetically modifying animals, and whether experiments like this could lead to even more extreme modifications. It also raised questions about what would happen to animals who have human-like intelligence, since they are not equipped to survive that way.

Genetically modifying other types of animals with human genetics. I can imagine this could lead to a day when your dog tells you to get up off your lazy behind and get him a treat. Your dog then tells you it has butts to sniff, barking at something outside to do as well as body parts to lick. They're busy so go get the treat, the chicken one they like, not the dry biscuit one. I could see your cat tell you to get some fresh catnip, the old stuff just doesn't do it for them anymore. Deer could be eating your garden and tell you to plant something else, they're tired of these plants you have every year. They want variety. The human relationship to animals could really change.

The geneticist who led the study said he is already working on bigger experiments on human and animal intelligence. Bing Su, a geneticist at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, told MIT Technology Review he has been adding a DNA variant called SRGAP2C, which is a crucial link in the emergence of human intelligence, to monkeys.


I am going to stick with my belief this Mr. Su has not seen any of the Planet of the Apes movies. What is the goal of this science? Does he want to create monkeys so they can invent new and different ways to eat bananas? Will we have all monkey sports team involving tree climbing contests? I can imagine there could come a time when having restaurants serving cuisine exclusively for monkeys may be a reality.

Maybe if we quit trying to get monkeys to be humans, we can get some humans to stop acting like monkeys. It's just a suggestion and it might work.

Below is a link to the story.


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