Comments on: How to breed a minotaur, step one.

How to breed a minotaur, step one.

WalterMitty — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:38:49 -0800

While previous posts on MetaFilter have addressed successful monkey cloning and the first kid to have three parents, researchers at Newcastle University have successfully created human-cow hybrid embryos as a source of stem cells for research. The controversy has been brewing for several years in the UK, where legislation and public opinion have weighed in for and against hybrid embryos. While the Catholic Church has opined that these experiments are "of Frankenstein proportion", scientists claim that this research will help them gain insights into diseases including cancer and Parkinson's Disease, as well as overcoming a shortage of available human eggs. The process used - the injection of skin cell-derived human DNA into a cow ovary - is different from what is termed a "full hybrid", which involves the fusion of sperm and egg, which is decidedly illegal. Despite the Church's distaste for embryos, its distaste for abortion continues to be even stronger. The scientists, OTOH, promise that any and all such embryos are destroyed within 14 days of creation, and that these embryos will never be allowed to come to term. BBC and Guardian Q&As on hybrid embryos. Could this be the first step to creating a minotaur or a chimera? Perhaps the debate regarding a minotaur versus a centaur can finally be resolved.

By: wendell

wendell — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:42:30 -0800

Moo.

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:43:20 -0800

paging brundlecow.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:44:54 -0800

How is it a 'hybrid' if all the DNA is human?

By: sandraregina

sandraregina — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:45:19 -0800

Cowmuns. Hows. Delicious with bonsai and crumbled rocks and a sprinkling of the slime found between the toes. This made me giggle so hard. On the weekend, one game I played had a troll in it, a troll with a taste for human flesh. And a goblin who enjoyed eating cows. A merging of the two was suggested.

By: chugg

chugg — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:45:28 -0800

I don't believe anything posted here today.

By: popcassady

popcassady — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:45:37 -0800

Bitty.

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:46:08 -0800

How is it a 'hybrid' if all the DNA is human? It isn't. The mitochondrial DNA is bovine.

By: ...possums

...possums — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:48:56 -0800

There you go again, blurring the line between cannibalism and a tasty burger.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:49:43 -0800

I'd eat one.

By: Demogorgon

Demogorgon — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:50:04 -0800

Cowmuns. Hows. I like "Moomans."

By: Doohickie

Doohickie — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:51:56 -0800

I don't believe anything posted here today. I'm diggin' that.

By: Dave Faris

Dave Faris — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:52:38 -0800

I have seen a cowboy before.

By: The World Famous

The World Famous — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:53:35 -0800

Will these cowmans eat tomacco?

By: graymouser

graymouser — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:54:29 -0800

God, shmod. I want my monkeyman!

By: Dr-Baa

Dr-Baa — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:54:51 -0800

Goddamnit, I'm with chugg. Nothing on the Internet has any value on April 1st. (present company excluded, of course)

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:55:04 -0800

I saw one of these outside a diner the other day.

By: cjorgensen

cjorgensen — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:57:42 -0800

Paging Dr. Moreau. "God Smod I want my monkey man!" Bart Simpson

By: tommasz

tommasz — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:00:20 -0800

Cordwainer Smith predicted this.

By: moonshine

moonshine — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:01:13 -0800

Moomans make muu-muus by the moor.

By: WalterMitty

WalterMitty — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:04:59 -0800

Food > ethics! Food ftw.

By: salishsea

salishsea — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:06:45 -0800

If this is real, they picked a bad day for a press release.

By: Big_B

Big_B — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:07:02 -0800

I for one welcome our new Cowmen overlords.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:08:58 -0800

But do they call me John Burn the bridge builder? No. No.

By: tadellin

tadellin — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:15:20 -0800

What a great new ad campaign for Chik-Fil-A.

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:15:47 -0800

As long as it doesn't shift colours all the time it's okay by me.

By: ten pounds of inedita

ten pounds of inedita — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:17:36 -0800

It'll grow up to be a Level 70 Elite Tauren Shaman.

By: empath

empath — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:20:19 -0800

They're made of meat.

By: empath

empath — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:20:48 -0800

I'd eat one. posted by Astro Zombie at 3:49 PM on April 1 [+] [!] of course.

By: Citizen Premier

Citizen Premier — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:23:20 -0800

Thankfully, George W. had the foresight to forbid this in America.

By: VicNebulous

VicNebulous — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:23:45 -0800

Tastes just like human.

By: quin

quin — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:24:47 -0800

The Catholic Church describes it as "monstrous". Of course, they've long held an irrational dislike of the golden calf, so I don't think it's fair to consider them an unbiased source. They clearly have an anti-cow agenda which they are working off of.

By: swift

swift — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:30:25 -0800

What could go wrong?

By: cashman

cashman — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:36:02 -0800

If this is real, they picked a bad day for a press release. Nuh-uh! This is the perfect day to stem outrage and fear! Oh that minotaur cow man thing? That was just some april fools day joke… or was it!! dun dun DUNNH!

By: cashman

cashman — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:37:14 -0800

[dramatic minotaur]

By: phyrewerx

phyrewerx — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:37:33 -0800

Now if only we can get these to fight in an intergalactic space war. (Not sure if this link to starcraft will expire after April 1)

By: cog_nate

cog_nate — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:43:13 -0800

Damn, phyrewerx beat me to it. (But do check out the Blizzard site if you want more April Fools stuff.)

By: rlk

rlk — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:54:34 -0800

What could go wrong.

By: binturong

binturong — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:55:11 -0800

But will Hindus venerate it?

By: jabberjaw

jabberjaw — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:11:13 -0800

"Despite the Church's distaste for embryos..." I trust you mean human - er, human-bovine - embryos. Easter eggs, despite their supposedly pagan origin, seem to be quite popular amongst the Church crowd. I mean, does anybody really have a taste for human embryos? And, Pope "Eggs" Benedict, anyone?

By: disgruntled

disgruntled — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:31:05 -0800

Human-animal hybrids never turn out well.

By: PlusDistance

PlusDistance — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:45:20 -0800

So (seriously!) what would happen if these embryos were somehow allowed to come to term? Would they even be viable? The stories say their DNA is 99% human, so what kind of "monsters" would they be? I'm not thinking "minotaurs" so much as "sickly humans."

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:47:14 -0800

Mixed species. *shudder* Brrr.

By: louche mustachio

louche mustachio — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:17:13 -0800

I'm not thinking "minotaurs" so much as "sickly humans." If by "sickly" you mean "tasty" then we are on the same page.

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:36:52 -0800

It would have an enormous schwanzstucker.

By: Dipsomaniac

Dipsomaniac — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:48:04 -0800

And thus a new breed destined specifically for AT&T customer support was born.

By: effwerd

effwerd — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:52:33 -0800

Homo delicioso

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:16:51 -0800

How does it handle a trident?

By: Mitrovarr

Mitrovarr — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:59:20 -0800

PlusDistance: So (seriously!) what would happen if these embryos were somehow allowed to come to term? Would they even be viable? The stories say their DNA is 99% human, so what kind of "monsters" would they be? I'm not thinking "minotaurs" so much as "sickly humans." Realistically? I doubt scientists now could make these things come to term if they wanted to. Cloning is still a very difficult science, and you have to use an embryo of the same species (approximately) as you want to clone. A cow embryo with human DNA is probably totally unviable even if you wanted to keep it alive. If you somehow could, you'd end up with a clone that had human DNA with cow cytoplasm and mitochondrial DNA. The clone would probably be in poor shape, as clones generally are. I doubt the mitochondrial DNA would convey any cow characteristics. It might be totally incompatible with human chromosomal DNA since genes have slowly been migrating off mitochondrial DNA and onto the main chromosomes for a long time. If it wasn't, you might have any number of mitochondrial abnormalities. With regard to the cytoplasm, cytoplasmic irregularities have been implicated in some birth defects. So, if that did anything at all, it'd probably just give you a clone with poor health, birth defects, or (most likely of all) an unviable one. So yeah, I'd guess you'd just get a sickly human. Realistically you'd probably get a human so sickly no amount of biological science could keep it alive until birth.

By: [son] QUAALUDE

[son] QUAALUDE — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:14:42 -0800

There you go again, blurring the line between cannibalism and a tasty burger. posted by ...possums at 12:48 PM on April 1 [2 favorites -] Favorite added! [!] I'd eat one. posted by Astro Zombie at 12:49 PM on April 1 [+] [!] Homo delicioso posted by effwerd at 3:52 PM on April 1 [+] [!] Oh, i'm soooooooo there. Anybody remember manmeat.com? wait, that sounds bad.

By: [son] QUAALUDE

[son] QUAALUDE — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:16:20 -0800

HAHAH homo delicioso, tsk tsk tsk

By: notashroom

notashroom — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:22:26 -0800

"Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys ..." This puts me in mind of Patricia Piccinni's "We Are Family."

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:50:56 -0800

I want to be the first bovine politician.

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:35:33 -0800

too late, william howard taft was the first bovine politician

By: Locative

Locative — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:49:08 -0800

This will be great to tell my students. It's so much less risky than drawing a diagram of Pasiphae in a cow suit. Thank you, science!

By: randomination

randomination — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:36:35 -0800

Moo moo moo moo I want you in my womb

By: No Mutant Enemy

No Mutant Enemy — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:22:00 -0800

A casual stroll around Newcastle city centre on a Friday evening would suggest that human-cow hybrids have been around for quite a while.

By: nicepersonality

nicepersonality — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:41:00 -0800

The farmer and the human-cow hybrid embryo should be friends, Oh, the farmer and the human-cow hybrid embryo should be friends. One man likes to push a plow, The other represents a monstrous attack on human rights, human dignity and human life; But that's no reason why they cain't be friends!

By: available

available — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:33:58 -0800

This is a scientific feat with absolutely no utility to the community. As a stem cell biologist, I would always work with hES or iPS cells. These Newcastle boys should be kicked in the nuts.

By: verisimilitude

verisimilitude — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:58:43 -0800

It mostly girls, actually. I did a degree in genetics there a few years ago.