What is the cultural effect, decades down the line, of a widespread mixing of human and non-human genetic material?
A real-life example that illustrates the possibility that chimera research might disrupt a useful social practice is the attempt in 1998 by Stuart Newman (a professor of cell biology and anatomy) and Jeremy Rifkin (an anti-biotechnology activist) to patent a broad range of chimeras resulting from the mixing of human and nonhuman embryonic cells (Heathcotte and Robert 2006; Rabin 2006).
Some experts have judged this risk to be low on the basis of the following assumptions stemming from historical data: (i) only virus subtypes H1, H2, and H3 cause pandemics; (ii) influenza viruses do not cause pandemics without reassortment ("genetic mixing") of human and animal viruses; and (iii) pigs are required as an intermediate host to yield pandemic viruses (1).
Scientists have mapped the effects of war, colonization, trade, migration and slavery on the genetic mixing of humans over the bulk of recorded history and created an online interactive atlas of humanity's genetic history.
"The movement and mixing of humans, wildlife, and domestic animals as part of the illegal global wildlife trade encourages transmission of disease and emergence of novel pathogens," Dr. William Karesh, of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Global Health Program, said in a statement.
"The likely hotspots [for outbreak] are Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Africa and South America where the combination of potential vectors, mixing of humans, livestock and wildlife and less capacity for public health surveillance are likely to co-exist," Hill-Cawthorne says.
"The likely hotspots [for outbreak] are Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Africa, and South America where the combination of potential vectors, mixing of humans, livestock, and wildlife, and less capacity for public health surveillance are likely to coexist," Hill-Cawthorne said.
The mixing of humans and pigs at swine shows possibly could further the geographic and cross-species spread of influenza A viruses.
Carvhalho has experimented with incorporating dance into his installations, and excising humanity from them entirely, but Into the Void is a balanced mix of human psychology and machine-generated chaos that goes beyond his previous work.
It's a mix of human curation and algorithm-based recommendations, in other words.
Yet she could not be more English: think Fay Weldon, for her satire's mix of human and supernatural slapstick.
