Latest Chimera Stories

Britain's Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) gave initial approval to scientists to create human-animal embryos for research. The research will mean the production of human embryos with traces of animal DNA.Experts in the field say the research is vital for finding potential cures for debilitating and life-threatening diseases.Two centers will now be able to start work, with conditions, under one-year research licenses -- King's College London and Newcastle University....

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Researchers at the University of Southern Maine have identified a "starter hormone" responsible for initiating the process by which caterpillars transform themselves into moths. The researchers also discovered that by manipulating hormone treatments, they could arrest a caterpillar's growth, a finding they suggest will lead to a better understanding of how hormones can control growth in humans. The research by Professor David Champlin and a team of students...

WASHINGTON -- Actor Michael J. Fox, a Parkinson's disease sufferer, urged President Bush on Wednesday to drop his opposition to expanded embryonic stem cell research as Congress geared up for a pivotal vote for more government spending on the research."He has an opportunity to do something fantastic for the world," said the actor-activist, calling the legislation a "pro-living bill."The Senate plans to vote on stem cell legislation this month, possibly next week. The House...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Supporters and opponents of human-embryo research wielded politics and science on Tuesday in last-minute battles to push some kind of stem cell legislation through the Senate. Scientists described different kinds of stem-cell technology in Senate testimony, and senators threw as many as six different bills into the mix, each backing a different approach for making human stem cells. "They are just muddying the water and confusing it," said Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, a...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Senate health panel on Wednesdayapproved a bill that would establish a national network toexpand access to umbilical cord blood for research, one ofseveral bills on bioethical issues likely to be debated nextmonth in the fight over embryonic stem cell research. President Bush has vowed to veto any expansion of federallyfunded embryonic stem cell research. But the House easilyapproved such legislation in May, and supporters of the Senatebill predict a strong...

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- On a farm about six miles outside this gambling town, Jason Chamberlain looks over a flock of about 50 smelly sheep, many of them possessing partially human livers, hearts, brains and other organs. The University of Nevada-Reno researcher talks matter-of-factly about his plans to euthanize one of the pregnant sheep in a nearby lab. He can't wait to examine the effects of the human cells he had injected into the fetus' brain about two months ago. "It's mice on a large...