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Part-human part-mouse brain developed in science breakthrough

bbc.com

21–30 of 34 posts

Re: Part-human part-mouse brain developed in science breakthrough

#22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> until now no one has had the insight or bravery to ask the question, "What if we just made people more mouse?" Exciting stuff. This is making mice more people, but either way it's an exciting day for mice everywhere.

Not really, since this is just inventing new and exciting ways to give mice more brain diseases

This is just inventing new and exciting ways to give mice more human brain diseases.

Re: Part-human part-mouse brain developed in science breakthrough

#26
Humans genetically-engineered with no cerebral cortex fitted with a whole bunch of computing technology inside the craniums - coming to a city near you soon.

Oh, wait, has that already happened, and you thought someone was going to tell you about it? They thought they couldn't fake all the head MRI scans to cover up for THAT?

Multiple variations of this reality may exist. I'd so read a thriller book about this...but none have been written, strangely enough.

Re: Part-human part-mouse brain developed in science breakthrough

#27
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really, since this is just inventing new and exciting ways to give mice more brain diseases

This is just inventing new and exciting ways to give mice more human brain diseases.

As if mice didn’t have enough of their own brain diseases!

Re: Part-human part-mouse brain developed in science breakthrough

#28

Great news: we're excellent at curing mice of diseases. All this time we've been trying to find drugs that have the same effect in humans as they do in mice, but until now no one has had the insight or bravery to ask the question, "What if we just made people more mouse?" Exciting stuff.

"I must be getting smart to beat a smart mouse like Algernon. But I don't feel smarter" (Daniel Keyes - Flowers for Algernon)

Re: Part-human part-mouse brain developed in science breakthrough

#29
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just inventing new and exciting ways to give mice more human brain diseases.

As if mice didn’t have enough of their own brain diseases!

There actually exist mice facial expression amplifiers (and sound clarifiers etc.). If we employed them, we could get a better insight on their quirks and difficulties.

Re: Part-human part-mouse brain developed in science breakthrough

#30
post #9

Does this remind anyone of that novel Flowers for Algernon..?

That story was so sad, reading it was like actually going through the process together with the main character. The past few years I seem to be seeing more and more experiments with growing brains in laboratories. Aren't there laws regulating bioethics that forbid such questionable practices? Not that laws ever stopped determined nation states or private researchers from pursuing knowledge - or profit, or competitive…

> But how do you know for sure?

Presumably by intelligent, competent, analytical direct consideration.

The non-layman should get a pretty good idea at assessment (in this case, "where is nociception and is it there" etc.)

Allow me a relatively distant reference, for fun. Prosecution: "How do you know the patient was dead at the time?" // Doctor: "Because his brains were sitting on my table" // "And can you know for sure he was dead?" // "He could have been alive, brainless and practicing law maybe".

Which wants to mean, at least: surely there are subtle non easy questions, but still there exist thresholds of competence enabling better assessment. (And subtle doubts call for subtle defences, to be non-gratuitous.)

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