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Frankenstein: Scientists from Cambridge University create embryo with brain and beating heart entirely from stem cells
Hotair ^ | 08/28/2022 | Jazz Shaw

Posted on 08/28/2022 8:09:33 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

In a report this week from the science journal SciTechDaily, we learn of a scientific breakthrough that it clearly intended to be exciting and startling, but potentially worrisome as well. Scientists at the University of Cambridge have created a series of “model embryos” that include a functioning brain, a beating heart, and the foundation for all of the other bodily organs you would expect. But unlike previous generations of these sorts of experiments, they did not use any eggs or sperm. The entire embryo was crafted from stem cells that were “trained” to begin forming the organs. The future potential of this sort of technology is clearly staggering, particularly in the field of transplant surgery, but there are ethical questions to be addressed as well. At least for now, however, we’re not talking about human embryos. These were all the embryos of laboratory mice.

Scientists from the University of Cambridge have created model embryos from mouse stem cells that form a brain, a beating heart, and the foundations of all the other organs of the body. It represents a new avenue for recreating the first stages of life.

The team of researchers, led by Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, developed the embryo model without eggs or sperm. Instead, they used stem cells – the body’s master cells, which can develop into almost any cell type in the body.

By guiding the three types of stem cells found in early mammalian development to the point where they start interacting, the researchers mimicked natural processes in the lab. The scientists were able to get the stem cells to ‘talk’ to each other by inducing the expression of a particular set of genes and establishing a unique environment for their interactions.

Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz is quoted as saying, “It’s just unbelievable that we’ve got this far. This has been the dream of our community for years, and a major focus of our work for a decade and finally we’ve done it.”

Yes, but what exactly have you done? And perhaps more to the point, what will others do with this knowledge? These experiments may be achieving breakthroughs, but nobody is going to all of this trouble and expense to extend the lives of mice. This is all heading toward human organ development and transplants. There is still a rule in place saying that no experimentation should be done on human embryos, but scientists in China have already broken that rule repeatedly. (And that’s only the instances we’ve found out about.)

Look, I’m not trying to play the role of the old man out on his porch screaming at the clouds about “all of this newfangled science.” I fully understand the incredible impact laboratory-grown organs could have. So many people succumb to various types of potentially fatal organ failure and wind up having a transplant from a donor. But they then have to take drugs for the rest of their lives to prevent the body from rejecting the new organ and their overall life expectancy tends to still wind up being shorter than normal anyway.

If doctors can grow a new organ for you from your own cells, your body will recognize it as “one of its own” and not reject it. When the stitches heal, you can get on with your life as you did before. It would probably represent one of the greatest leaps forward in extending the human lifespan that we’ve seen in generations. (Although that comes with its own complicating questions.)

But my enthusiasm for these sorts of experiments becomes significantly dampened when we start talking about brains. Scientists have already created brain “organoids” in the laboratory that produced brain waves similar to those seen in prematurely born infants. A more recent experiment produced a human brain that began growing a pair of eyes and similarly seemed to be processing external information.

I simply don’t know how we can do this without addressing the question of when a brain starts to exhibit consciousness or the presence of a soul, depending on your religious and moralistic preferences. Does it not happen until the moment of birth as many liberals today contend? Or does it happen the moment that the sperm fertilizes the egg as others insist? Or somewhere in between? And does the fact that the brain was created using human stem cells rather than eggs and sperm make any difference morally?

If the brain is producing brain waves and starting to process information, then it clearly appears to be something that at least resembles “thinking.” And a human brain capable of processing thoughts certainly sounds like it meets some of the basic definitions of what it means to be human. Do you have the right to flush that down the toilet and destroy it when your experiment is complete? If these scientists think they have easy answers to those questions, I would suggest they haven’t thought this through fully.



TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: bravenewworld; embryo; stemcells
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1 posted on 08/28/2022 8:09:33 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
“It’s just unbelievable that we’ve got this far." ~ Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz

Yes, unbelievable. But not in the way the Professor means.

2 posted on 08/28/2022 8:12:08 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“May your neighbors respect you, trouble neglect you, angels protect you and heaven accept you”)
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To: SeekAndFind

I am positive the Chicomms have cloned humans already. We do it on animals in the USA, people are simply bricks in the wall to Chicomms, they are cloning people.


3 posted on 08/28/2022 8:18:37 PM PDT by vpintheak (Live free, or die!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Coming, the clone wars are.


4 posted on 08/28/2022 8:19:37 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Playing God.

And to think some still wonder why the Tower of Babel was destroyed....


5 posted on 08/28/2022 8:27:37 PM PDT by cranked
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To: SeekAndFind

How could this go wrong?


6 posted on 08/28/2022 8:31:58 PM PDT by poinq
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To: SeekAndFind

7 posted on 08/28/2022 8:42:08 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: SeekAndFind

They didn’t “create” anything, they only assembled parts, stem cells, that were already created, and already designed to be able to form any parts of the body. What they did was to trick or manipulate the parts.

The stem cells still come from a person...a fact they would prefer we forget.


8 posted on 08/28/2022 8:49:30 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: cranked

Mark my words: THIS kind of thing will result in the extinction of humans. The vaccines are just one part of it.

This monkeying around with things like the human immune system and the formation of a human that have taken vast amounts of time over ages to to reach a level of protection in the immune system and sophistication in the process of creating a new human, and we go in with a claw hammer and a rusty screwdriver because we are so damned smart.

Madness.

Madness.


9 posted on 08/28/2022 8:51:13 PM PDT by rlmorel (Nolnah's Razor: Never attribute to incompetence that which is adequately explained by malice.)
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To: rlmorel

Should I get cremation insurance? It has been almost 19 months since my first jab!


10 posted on 08/28/2022 9:02:45 PM PDT by entropy12 (Trump & MAGA are the only road to kep USA viable.s)
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To: entropy12

Will it make any difference to you?


11 posted on 08/28/2022 9:05:19 PM PDT by rlmorel (Nolnah's Razor: Never attribute to incompetence that which is adequately explained by malice.)
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To: entropy12

Don’t worry. If the vaccine didn’t do the job of destroying God’s work, tinkering with the formation of how humans are formed will definitely put us on that path.

Just curious-do you see any problem with manipulating the formation of human life at the genetic level? Or do you think it is well worth any risk?


12 posted on 08/28/2022 9:08:05 PM PDT by rlmorel (Nolnah's Razor: Never attribute to incompetence that which is adequately explained by malice.)
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To: SeekAndFind

13 posted on 08/28/2022 9:37:03 PM PDT by Angelino97
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To: piasa

[[They didn’t “create” anything, they only assembled parts,]]

Exactly, in intelligently designed and carefully controlled environments too-


14 posted on 08/28/2022 9:40:08 PM PDT by Bob434 (question)
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To: vpintheak

Cloning is old news. No doubt chicoms are making GMO humans


15 posted on 08/28/2022 10:03:28 PM PDT by varyouga ( )
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To: SeekAndFind; Roman_War_Criminal; SaveFerris

Ping


16 posted on 08/28/2022 10:42:25 PM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith…)
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To: piasa; All

🇺🇸🎚 “They didn’t “create” anything, they only assembled parts, stem cells, that were already created, and already designed to be able to form any parts of the body. What they did was to trick or manipulate the parts.

The stem cells still come from a person...”



As one who has been previously tasked to “train” AI, this is a great description of AI.

There really is “no such thing as an author without bias,” and all input’s are resigned for “beneficiary” outputs.


17 posted on 08/28/2022 11:02:30 PM PDT by patriotfury ((May the fleas of a thousand camels occupy mo' ham mads tents!) )
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To: SeekAndFind

18 posted on 08/28/2022 11:16:48 PM PDT by \/\/ayne (I regret that I have but one subscription cancellation notice to give to my local newspaper)
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To: SeekAndFind

Replicants.🙄


19 posted on 08/28/2022 11:47:43 PM PDT by BiteYourSelf ( Earth first we'll strip mine the other planets later.)
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To: piasa

So,they didn’t make their own dirt.🤔


20 posted on 08/28/2022 11:48:31 PM PDT by BiteYourSelf ( Earth first we'll strip mine the other planets later.)
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