Nice one cowboy
To use an appropriated Americanism that I would never normally use, today is all about the cow.
First, may I draw your attention to Cow & Buffalo. I made a suggestion that there should be a strip about ’smilk’ and I think you’d agree that the creator Mike Maihack did an excellent job.
The next bit of cow-related fun is the news that apparently we’ve created a human-animal hybrid embryo… and which species did we choose to share this amazing milestone? The cow.
It sounds really impressive – human-animal hybrid embryo – and I believe that saying it out loud repeatedly is a cure for hiccups, but really it’s not as impressive as a lot of people are going to make it out to be. For once I think scientists are going to play down their work, and it’s probably best that they do just that.
What they’ve created is a cell composed of the workings of a human, surrounded by a cow-cell membrane. There’s no real mixing of genes of any of that sort of thing, it’s closer to a human having a pigs heart but not nearly as high in meat content.
But you just know that the media could go all ‘Frankenstein’ on it… and yes I know that Frankenstein was the doctor not the monster*, but try telling the media that.
It’s a shame really. This sort of thing could, ultimately, really help people, like those with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Yet it seems that there’s a real fear of these advances in cellular manipulation, especially within the organisations that subscribe to the idea of ending human suffering.
And so you can understand why scientists might want to keep this quiet – so that they can get on with their job as the law defines it, rather than having to spend their time trying to convince people that will never be swayed by an argument, let alone a fairly cohesive and logical one.
Besides, I quiet like the idea of a human-cow hybrid, I think they’d bring a lot to the table. I could use an extra stomach and the ability to eat grass has been sorely missing from my life.
…
Go on then, if how the church perceives genetics is true, what animal do you think should be combined with the human genome?
* And I also know thematically you have to question who the real monster of the piece is, the being created without consent, or the doctor that tries to play god. I also understand how that particular interpretation undermines my argument for the support of stem cell research and the like… life’s complex like that, but hey, at least I’m trying to understand the other side of the argument.
Philip J Schadenfreude on 
Yeah I’ve heard of this… I was exited at first, I thought it was going to be like The Island of Dr. Moreau, but apparently these things can never be born, Damn. Disney wouldn’t even need to make cartoons to have anthropomorphic adventure movies.
With another human!
You have to admit - it would be a lot more fun for the scientists!
Ummm…birds? So they’d be like angels or whatnot?
And while Frankenstein certainly didn’t come out smelling like roses, his creation did some rather uncalled for things as well. I’d say he was a bit monstrous at least.
I’[m sad to say that my country, Canada, is one of the ones that have banned human-animal hybridization outright. There are probably rational arguments against this line of experimentation- if you’ve ever heard any, please let me know- but most of the arguments seem to revolve around the squickiness of the subject and the semi-mystical properties people ascribe to the DNA molecule. That this is enough to get a promising field of research banned outright is disheartening to me.
As for what animal people should be hybridized with… dogs, definitely. Our two species have lived in symbiosis for long enough. It’s time to save resources and merge into a single species, then finally we can be our own best friend.
That ska-cow is rather impressive, I must say.
Ahaha, don’t even go into Frankenstein. There’s so many different sides to the story - I think I must have explored most of them in my coursework. If I haven’t, then I think I might have to cry.
It’s a good novel, though. I enjoyed it.
Well, if we’re going by bible anyway, we might as well cross ourselves with Jesus. I mean, we’d get more than one chance at living, we’d b able to do miracles, walk across water. Do all sorts. That would be pretty damn cool.
But at the same time, as a species we’re pretty much dangerous enough as it is. No Biblical-hybridisation, please.
im gonna come back to this when i study frankenstein later this year. by that stage of the year my brain will be addled from year 12 stress, and ill end up writing an essay about a cow performing ska music. although that would be pretty impressive.
Sounds cool.
I am always amazed at how much religion and ignorance (tempted to lump them together “religorance”) can sway the public opinion and media.
It is very disapointing to see how much science is delayed by bad publicity generate by ignorance and fear.
yesterday i created the words ‘chemicalibrium’ (chemical equilibrium) and ‘mathemability’ (mathematical ability) without meaning to.
Some nice chimeric words… I particularly like mathemability and can see it used in bordrooms of the future.
I want nothing to do with cows
because they are udderly boring.
As far as I know, comic-maker
Gary Larson was the only person
who truly appreciated cows…
[IMG]http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e57/tiacat/arakawa.jpg[/IMG]
probably not relevant, but this is the ’self portrait’ Hiromu Arakawa put in the front of her first book.
I just realised that i messed up the links for this post… the blogging equivalent of walking around with your trouser zip open all day… sorted now though.