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The term ‘humanzee’, originally coined by George Gallup, refers to a hybridization of humans and chimpanzees, a task that was once deemed only a possible scientific venture. Rumor has it that scientists attempted this experiment during the 20th century.
Scientists claim that such a process, is successful, could yield tremendous scientific breakthroughs in regards to the availability of human organs. Scientists think if the research is successful in the future, humans will be able to begin the process of growing human organs inside monkeys. Kind of creepy, I know.
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Gallup is the renowned scientist who is known for introducing the ‘self-recognition’ experiment, which proved that primates can recognize themselves when they looked in a mirror. What does this ultimately mean? Primates are definitely self-aware. Gallup is the one who revealed that a university professor that he studied under witnessed an experiment in which a humanzee was actually born back in the 1920s.
Here’s what Gallup had to say:
“One of the most interesting cases involved an attempt which was made back in the 1920s in what was the first primate research center established in the US in Orange Park, Florida.
They inseminated a female chimpanzee with human semen from an undisclosed donor and claimed not only that pregnancy occurred but the pregnancy went full term and resulted in a live birth.
But in the matter of days, or a few weeks, they began to consider the moral and ethnical considerations and the infant was euthanized.
He told me the rumor was true. And he was a credible scientist in his own right.”
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Read that quote again if you missed it. The scientists were actually successful in their experiment and a child was born, but they killed it out of fear.
In the most recent attempt of ‘humanzee’-lization (yes, I made that up), Spanish scientist Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte admitted to a successful trial of the experiment and that if they didn’t abort the embryo, a child might have been born. Belmonte also admitted to trying this experiment in the past but his other attempts did not yield much as success as this one.
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Here’s a potential plot twist for you. From the Center of Regenerative Medicine in Barcelona, Ángel Raya asked: “What happens if the stem cells escape and form human neurons in the brain of the animal? Would it have consciousness? And what happens if these stem cells turn into sperm cells?”
Does your brain hurt yet? Because mine does.
For more ethically questionable topics, check out Plan to Rush Area 51 Spawns Idea to Ambush Bermuda Triangle!
