Fatima — Animal Crossing Wiki
| Fatima | |
|---|---|
| Tierart | Hirsch |
| Persönlichkeit | Ausgeglichen |
| Geschlecht | Weiblich |
| Geburtstag | 26. März |
| Floskel | „bimbam“ |
| Fotospruch | „Aller Anfang ist entweder schwer oder leicht.“ |
| Auftreten | AC:NH AC:PC AC:HHD AC:NL |
Fatima ist ein Hirsch mit der Persönlichkeit Ausgeglichen.
Aussehen
Fatimas Aussehen basiert auf einem Rehkitz.
Dies wird durch die weißen Punkte auf ihrem Hinterkopf besonders deutlich.
| Spiel | Aussehen | Kleidung |
|---|---|---|
| AC:NH | Folklorekleid [Rot] | |
| AC:NL | Felljacke Blättchenschirm |
Persönlichkeit
Es folgt eine allgemeine Beschreibung zur Persönlichkeit Ausgeglichen:
Die ausgeglichenen, oder auch normalen Nachbarn in Animal Crossing haben einen Mangel an Selbstwertgefühl, respektieren die anderen Nachbarn und die Spielfigur aber umso mehr.
Sie werden dir öfter von Büchern erzählen, die sie dir empfehlen würden.
Außerdem backen und malen sie sehr gerne.
Wenn man eine sehr gute Freundschaft mit ihnen hat, werden sie manchmal auch Dinge aus ihrer Familie erzählen.
Sie verstehen sich gut mit allen Nachbarn.
New Horizons
Die Lieblingsfarben von Fatima sind Beige und Weiß und ihre Lieblingsstile sind Schlicht und Putzig.
Ihr Hobby ist Natur.
Happy Home Paradise
Ich möchte meine Freunde auf dem Piano unterhalten.
Fatima wünscht sich ein Ferienhaus mit dem Konzept „Mein Pianotreff“ und gibt folgende Gegenstände vor:
-
Blumenständer
-
Klavierhocker
-
Konzertflügel
Alle weiteren Gegenstände, die beim Einrichten des Ferienhauses von Fatima freigeschaltet werden, sind in ihrem Auftrag gelistet.
Pocket Camp
Jemand wie Fatima hat so gut wie keine Schwächen.
Sie ist nett, verlässlich und beliebt. Manchmal rutscht ihr zwar ein schnippisches Wort heraus, aber wirklich nur sehr selten.
Fatimas Lieblingsstil ist Natürlich und ihr Hauptmaterial ist Hartstoff.
Um sie auf den Zeltplatz einladen zu können, müssen Freundschaftsgrad Level 7 erreicht und folgende Möbel hergestellt worden sein:
-
Aloe Vera
-
Buntholzbank
-
Buntholzschrank
-
Klavierhocker
-
Pastellteppich
Freundschaftsbelohnungen
Diese besonderen Freundschaftsbelohnungen sind von Fatima erhältlich:
| Material | Items | Zeltplatzfunktionen | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 7 | 1x | Felljacke | ✘ |
| Level 8 | ✘ | ✘ | |
| Level 9 | 1x | ✘ | ✘ |
| Level 10 | ✘ | ✘ | |
| Level 15 | ✘ | Herzenswunsch
Konzertflügel |
✘ |
| Level 20 | 1x | Foto von Fatima | ✘ |
| ab Level 25 alle 5 Level |
1x | ✘ | ✘ |
Für meine Freunde möchte ich ein Klavierkonzert geben.
Fatima wünscht sich ein Haus mit dem Thema „Eine kleine Hausmusik“ und gibt folgende Gegenstände vor:
-
Konzertflügel
-
Klavierhocker
Alle weiteren Gegenstände, die beim Einrichten des Hauses von Fatima freigeschaltet werden, sind in ihrem Auftrag gelistet.
New Leaf
Die Lieblingsfarbe und der Lieblingsstil von Fatima sind Dezent und Beige.
Sie trinkt ihren Kaffee am liebsten so: Mokka, viel Milch, 3 Löffel Zucker.
An Halloween fürchtet sie sich vor der Werwolfmütze.
| Infos für den 1. April | |
|---|---|
| Geburtstag | 26. März |
| Motto | „Aller Anfang ist entweder schwer oder leicht.“ |
| Traumberuf | Lehrerin |
| Familienverhältnis | mittlere von drei Kindern |
| Geheimes Talent | kopfrechnen |
Haus
| Spiel | Inneneinrichtung | Außenansicht | Musik |
|---|---|---|---|
| AC:NH | Spaziergang | ||
| AC:NL | Spaziergang |
Sammelkarten
| amiibo-Karte (J) | amiibo-Karte (E) |
|---|---|
Name in anderen Sprachen
| Sprache | Name | Floskel |
|---|---|---|
| Englisch | Fauna | dearie |
| Japanisch | ドレミ (Doremi) | でしか |
| Spanisch | Fauna | puchu |
| Französisch | Bibi | toudoux |
| Italienisch | Cervina | vule vu |
| Niederländisch | Fauna | do ree mi |
| Chinesisch | 音音 | 小鹿 |
| Koreanisch | 솔미 | 파샵파샵 |
| Russisch | Фауна | олешек |
Galerie
The 15 Most Popular Animal Crossing: New Horizons Villagers
Animal Crossing: New Horizons players prefer certain villagers over others.
To find the perfect new addition to the town, many players happily make a swift exit from the island and embark on a Nook Miles Island tour to seek out other villagers.
RELATED: 10 Most Unlikable Animal Crossing Villagers In The Franchise, Ranked
Some Animal Crossing villagers have gained notoriety for their looks, theme, rarity, personality, and sometimes even a combination of all four. Because of their popularity, many of these favorable villagers are expensive and fetch a surprisingly high price if players wish to sell them to friends, or on online forums and groups.
Updated on September 5th, 2022 by Sarah Martin: Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been out for quite some time now, but its popularity certainly isn’t slowing down. Fans are still obsessed with collecting their favorite villagers and giving them a home on their island. As such, we’ve added 5 more of the game’s most popular villagers to the list.
15 Diana Is A Snooty Deer Villager With A Gorgeous Pastel Aesthetic
Diana is one of Animal Crossing: New Horizon‘s rarest villagers.
She’s a snooty deer who debuted in New Leaf and is the only one of her kind in the entire series. Some speculate that Diana is named after the Roman hunting goddess, who was often represented by a deer.
Even though she’s pretty arrogant and snappy, fans can’t help but fall in love with her gorgeous pastel aesthetic. Diana may initially come off as rude and standoffish, but she’s quick to warm up to the player and other villagers.
14 Bob Is A Lazy Purple Cat Whose Catchphrase Makes It Sound Like He’s Coughing Up A Hairball
Bob has been in every Animal Crossing game, and he’s been wildly popular in every single one. A lazy purple cat who was born on January 1st, some speculate Bob was the first villager designed for the Anime Crossing series.
Regardless, fans love Bob because of his unique aesthetic and easygoing personality. He doesn’t care what other people think of him, much to the annoyance of snooty villagers. Instead, he gets along with most other personality types, including smug villagers.
Plus, his catchphrase makes it sound like he’s coughing up a huge hairball.
13 Fauna Is A Kind Deer Who Loves Nature
Fauna debuted in New Leaf, but her popularity only grew when she joined New Horizons’ lineup of villagers. She had a pleasant and relatable personality type, making her one of the easiest villagers to befriend. She also had a solid routine, during which she wakes up at 6:00 in the morning and always makes time to enjoy nature.
RELATED: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Toy Day In Animal Crossing
Fauna gets along with most personality types but often clashes with sisterly and cranky types. She’s reliable and one of the most well-mannered villagers in the series. Fauna wants to become a teacher, and her skill is performing mental math.
12 Coco Is A Coconut Bunny With A Calm Personality
Coco is a coconut gyroid bunny and one of the more unique-looking villagers in the game. Her expression never changes, yet there’s a lot to love about Coco.
She has a very calm and peaceful personality and always stays present. Nothing can phase her or upset her, making her one of the easiest villagers to befriend.
Although some villagers look like they’ve spent an arm and a leg to make their homes perfectly reflect their aesthetics, Coco’s home is rougher around the edges. It seems like she brought the outdoors inside with its stone tables and a hay bed.
11 Audie Is A Wolf Who Looks Like A Fox
Most people would assume Audie is a bright orange fox when they look at her. She’s actually a wolf. A peppy, outgoing villager, Audie always lifts the mood whenever players invite her to their islands. She loves working out, and her hobbies revolve around fitness.
Audie was born on August 31st, making her a Virgo. She also has a tropical aesthetic that makes it seem like every day is a vacation to her, emphasized by her tropical patterned hair and sunglasses. Some have even compared her to a Japanese Gyaru.
10 Merengue Is A Sweet Strawberry Rhino
Merengue’s name comes from the egg whites and sugar dessert, hence her sweet appearance.
Her horn even resembles a strawberry. She starts out wearing a chef’s outfit, befitting her foodie theme, and Merengue’s home is designed like a diner, with a pink color scheme.
RELATED: 10 Best Animal Crossing Holidays (And Why!)
It’s hard to dislike Merengue; she’s a Pisces and her personality type is Normal, meaning she’s friendly towards the player from the outset and easier to form a bond with. Because of this, auctions for Merengue have reached 45 Nook Miles Tickets (NMT).
9 Sherb Is A Lazy Blue Goat
First introduced into the series when New Horizons came out, Sherb is a lazy villager named after the blue candy sherbet. This Capricorn is winter-themed, wearing a snowflake sweater when he first moves onto players’ islands.
Because of his laid-back attitude, Sherb is easy to get along with. Players can find Sherb engaging in disagreements with jock villagers, however, thanks to their differing lifestyles. Sherb’s house is filled with the sounds of Hypno K.
K. and the sky-blue variant of the Cute furniture set.
8 Shino Is Peppy Deer Who Can Befriend Anybody
Introduced in the 2.0 update, Shino is a Japanese-inspired deer character. Following the announcement of new villagers’ arrivals into the game in October 2021, fans seemed to have their eyes on Shino in particular.
Shino’s name combines different Japanese words like shika and noh — a species of deer and a type of theatre — with the female name Yoshino. Shino has a peppy personality type and an adorable design with a morning-glory yukata. Easy to befriend and often in high spirits, it’s no wonder this deer has become so popular.
7 Marshal Is Smug, Marshmallow-like Squirrel
A little, well-dressed fellow, it’s possible Marshal received his name due to his marshmallow-like appearance. His sulky expression explains his catchphrase, which he’ll use until the player gets the chance to change it.
RELATED: 7 Things To Do When You’ve Already Done Everything Else In Animal Crossing
Smug villagers are gentlemanly but have a tendency to get slightly egotistical from time to time, making them a humorous addition to many a town.
Similarly, Marshal the squirrel mean, yet adorable personality has made him popular among Animal Crossing fans. It’s amazing how something with such rosy cheeks constantly looks so miserable and tired of everything.
6 Judy Is A Kawaii Bear Cub With An Icy Personality
The snooty bear cub, Judy, is a new villager with New Horizons. Fans think her name may reference Judy Garland, thanks to her natural elegance. Judy’s anime eyes are just too cute, and her fur features and ombre design of pale pink and blue.
The pink fairytale dress Judy wears upon moving to players’ islands is the cherry on top for this Animal Crossing villager. Snooty villagers love to gossip and can appear rude upon first meeting, but don’t worry. Judy’s icy exterior will soon thaw. Adorably, this little bear will get on with any cranky villagers residing on players’ islands.
5 Marina Is A Friendly Pink Octopus
Marina made her debut in Animal Forest e+ as an islander, and has since reappeared in every new Animal Crossing game.
Marine means «from the sea» in Latin, alluding to the fact she’s a sea-dwelling octopus at heart. Marina will request an underwater fantasy land or palace with the Happy Home Paradise DLC.
This Normal personality type villager has a great fashion sense, donning the Dreamy Sweater upon arrival. Marina’s house set-up in New Horizons is almost identical to that of Wild World. This makes sense, as there’s no need to change something that’s already perfect.
4 Raymond The Smug Cat Is Always Working On Something
Raymond is a relatively new fan favorite, coming into existence with the release of New Horizons, and later being added to the mobile game Pocket Camp. This smug cat villager is dedicated to keeping things clean and tidy, and is always working on something.
RELATED: 10 Most Unpopular Animal Crossing: New Horizon Villagers
Much like his rarity in the game itself, Raymond looked adorable with his brown right eye and a green left eye.
Raymond quickly became an overnight sensation, with fans shelling out high amounts of Bells, even real money in some cases, to get this gray cat on their island.
3 Many Players Want Ankha The Egyptian-Themed Cat To Be Part Of Their Island
Ankha is an Egyptian-themed cat. With an ornate appearance and memorable personality, it’s no wonder why so many players want her to be part of their island. She’s been in every Animal Crossing game aside from Wild World, Animal Forest, and Pocket Camp, and her name is based on the hieroglyphic character «ankh,» which translates to «life.»
There are tons of theories about Ankha. One of which is that her empress-style appearance pays homage to the pharaoh, Tutankhamun. Plus, Ankha also resembles the ancient Abyssinian cat breed.
2 Stitches The Lazy Bear Is An Endearing Addition To Anyone’s Island
Stitches is based on every child’s favorite toy, a worn teddy bear. One of the who villagers in the game who isn’t actually an animal at all, Stitches is categorized as a cub.
RELATED: 10 Unspoken Rules Of Animal Crossing
A cute rainbow villager with a kidcore-esque home and a lazy personality, Stitches remains a hopelessly endearing addition to every fan’s island. Players will likely spot Stitches fishing, since he uses his catches as cooking ingredients. Stitches’ favorite K.K. tracks are «Lullaby» and «I Love You.»
1 Cherry Is A Goth Dog Who Looks Out For Everyone On The Island
Cherry’s name, likely inspired by her deep red fur, is a goth dog who’s like a big sister to everyone else on the island. When players first start their New Horizons game, they’ll always receive a sisterly and jock villager to help guide them through the beginning stages.
Big sister characters like Cherry are tough and always give players advice about fighting and making time to relax. Cherry cares deeply about the player and even gives them medicine if they get attacked by a wasp nest. These characteristics have made Cherry increasingly popular ever since her debut in New Leaf.
NEXT: Animal Crossing: 10 Weirdest Happy Home Academy Design Requests
The birth of a chimera: why do scientists need a hybrid of man and animal?
- David Robson
- BBC Earth
Sign up for our ‘Context’ mailing list to help you understand what’s going on.
Image copyright Thinkstock
Years of research preceded modern scientists’ efforts to create animals with human organs, and these plans are about to begin to materialize. However, opponents of such experiments are concerned about the ethical side of the issue, the columnist notes BBC Earth .
In H. G. Wells’ fantasy novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, the protagonist Edward Prendik, cast ashore as a result of a shipwreck, stumbles upon a woman and two men squatting near a fallen tree in a forest clearing.
All three are completely naked except for the rags wrapped around their thighs.
Prendik draws attention to their «fat faces», which «were devoid of a chin, the forehead protruded forward, and their heads were covered with sparse bristly hair.» He notes: «Never have I seen such bestial creatures.» nine0011
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When Prendik approaches the natives, they try to speak to him, but their speech is very fast and slurred; they shake their heads and sway from side to side, carrying, as it seemed to the hero, «some incredible nonsense.»
Despite the partially covered nakedness and seemingly human appearance of savages, Prendik catches in them an undoubted «resemblance to pigs», and their behavior is as if «marked with the seal of something animal».
nine0011
One night, accidentally entering Dr. Moreau’s operating room, Prendik finds out what it is: the scientist turns animals into people, changing their bodies and brains in his own image and likeness.
However, despite his best efforts, the doctor is unable to rid his creations of their basic instincts.
The unstable society he created is soon swallowed up by anarchy, which leads to Moro’s death.
It has been 120 years since the novel first saw the light of day, and today’s headlines might give the impression that we are perilously close to the dystopian perspective described by Wells. nine0011
Image copyright, Thinkstock
Image caption,
The most famous chimeras in existence today are the ones on Notre Dame Cathedral
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«Frankenstein scientists work to create a chimera that is a cross between a human and an animal,» shouted one of the headlines in the British Daily Mail in May 2016. nine0011
«Science seeks to break down the barrier between man and animal life,» said a Washington Times article published two months later. The author of the article argued that intelligent animals would soon break free from the laboratories.
The reason for the excitement was the scientists’ plans to implant human stem cells into animal embryos in order to grow individual human organs for transplantation to patients in need of transplantation.
This technology is expected to reduce waiting times in the queue for surgery and reduce the risk of rejection of transplanted organs. nine0011
These bold and controversial plans were preceded by more than three decades of scientific research.
The experiments helped scientists unravel some of the fundamental mysteries, explore the nature of interspecies differences, and figure out how a cluster of cells in a mother’s womb becomes a living organism.
Given the prospects for funding such projects, humanity is rapidly approaching a major milestone in this area.
«This field of knowledge is developing very quickly,» says Janet Rossant of the University of Toronto, who pioneered the study of chimeras. «Our understanding of biology will reach a new level.» nine0011
But only on the condition that we first resolve some of the difficult ethical issues surrounding our understanding of what it means to be human.
For thousands of years, chimeras were only characters of myths and legends.
The biological term is borrowed from ancient Greek mythology: Homer described the chimera as a strange creature with the head and neck of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a snake.
According to legend, this immortal fire-breathing creature lived in the country of Lycia, located in Asia Minor (a peninsula in western Asia, part of the territory of modern Turkey — Ed.). nine0011
The scientific definition of a chimera is not so colorful. The term is used to describe any organism that is made up of genetically dissimilar cells.
Chimerism occurs naturally, in particular as a result of the fusion of twin embryos shortly after conception, and can lead to amazing results.
Take, for example, bilateral (two-sided) gynandromorphs, in which one side of the body has male characteristics and the other female. Such creatures are essentially the result of the merger of two fraternal twins. nine0011
If the coloration of individuals of different sexes differs greatly, as is the case with many species of birds and insects, the result can be very unusual and impressive.
For example, in the red cardinal, bilateral gynandromorphism results in bright red plumage on the «male» side and gray plumage on the «female» side.
However, much more often the cells of different embryos are mixed in random combinations, leading to more subtle changes throughout the body.
These chimeras look and behave exactly like other individuals of the same species. nine0011
There is a possibility that you yourself are a chimera, because, according to scientific studies, at least 8% of non-identical twins absorb cells from their brothers or sisters during the embryonic stage.
Despite the fact that creatures like those described in Greek myths do not exist in nature, this does not prevent scientists from trying to create their own chimeras in the laboratory.
Janet Rossant was one of the first scientists to do this. nine0011
Photo copyright, Dietmar Nill/Naturepl.com
Photo caption,
Hybrid chimeras were bred from two different species of mice in the 1980s
In 1980, while working at Brock University in Canada, she published in the journal Science the results of an experiment in which a chimera was grown from the genetic material of two different species of mice: an albino laboratory mouse, which is a subspecies of the house mouse (Mus musculus), and a wild Ryukyu mouse (Mus caroli), which lives in a number of Asian countries.
nine0011
Previous attempts to breed interspecies hybrid creatures have often ended in failure. Embryos either did not attach to the wall of the uterus at all, or turned out to be underdeveloped, and then the case most often ended in miscarriage.
The Rossant method involved a complex surgical procedure, approximately four days after conception.
By this time, the fertilized egg has already turned into a blastocyst — a clot of inner cell mass surrounded by a protective layer called the trophoblast, which will later become the placenta. nine0011
Rossant and colleague William Frels injected an inner cell mass from a Ryukyu mouse blastocyst into a laboratory mouse egg.
Since the trophoblast in the blastocyst of the carrier mouse was not damaged during the operation, the DNA of the developing placenta still matched that of the mother. As a result, the embryo successfully attached to the wall of the uterus.
Scientists had only to wait 18 days, observing the course of pregnancy.
The experiment was remarkably successful: out of 48 newborn mice, 38 were chimeras containing genetic material from both mouse species. nine0011
«We’ve shown that crossing the species barrier is possible,» says Rossant. Chimerism was clearly manifested in the color of mice: alternating patches of white and reddish wool.
Photo copyright, Sinclair Stammers/SPL
Photo caption,
To create a chimera, the inner cell mass of one mouse species was injected into the embryo of another species.
«We got a very strange mixture of characters,» says Rossant. «Ryukyuan mice are very restless: to prevent them from running away, you have to put them in the bottom of a bucket, and you have to take them with tongs, after putting on leather gloves.» nine0011
Lab mice are much quieter. «The behavior of our chimeras was somewhere in between,» the researcher notes.
According to Rossant, at the current level of development of neuroscience, such experiments can help in the study of the behavior of different species.
«You could correlate the behavioral differences with which parts of the chimera’s brain have two different kinds of cells,» she says. «I find this area of research very interesting.» nine0011
In her early work, Rossant used her chimeras to study how organisms develop in the womb.
The study of genes was still just beginning, and the clear differences between the two species helped to trace how cells were distributed throughout the chimera organism.
Thanks to this, scientists have found out from which elements of the inner cell mass certain organs are formed.
Scientists can also use this approach to study the role of certain genes. To do this, a genetic mutation can be artificially created in one of the embryos, while the other will be used as a control. nine0011
By examining the resulting chimera, researchers will be able to determine which bodily functions are affected by certain genes.
The Rossant method was soon used by other scientists around the world. In one of the experiments, a chimera was created from goat and sheep cells.
The appearance of the animal was very unusual: its skin looked like a patchwork quilt, which was interspersed with sheep’s wool and coarse hair characteristic of a goat.
image copyrightGeoff Tompkinson/SPL
Image caption,
Goat and sheep chimera
Time magazine described the chimera as «a zookeeper’s trick: a goat in an angora sweater.
Rossant has also acted as a consultant for a number of endangered species conservation projects: the idea was to
«I don’t know how successful these initiatives have been, but the idea is still alive,» she says. page in regenerative medicine
Over the past two decades, scientists have been trying to learn how to grow new organs in the laboratory from stem cells that can turn into cells of any type of tissue.
This strategy is considered to have enormous potential for the development of transplantology.
«The problem is that although stem cells are very similar to embryonic cells, they are not exactly identical,» says Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte of the Salk Institute for Biological Research in La Jolla, California. nine0011
So far, stem cells remain unsuitable for transplantation.
Ispisua Belmonte and a number of other researchers believe that the solution should be found on farms. The goal of scientists is to create chimera animals to grow the necessary organs.
«Embryogenesis is widely found in nature, and 99% of its results are positive,» says the scientist. us?» nine0011
In contrast to the goat and sheep chimera, in which the cells of two different species were randomly distributed throughout the body, in these chimeras, foreign tissues should be concentrated in specific organs.
Through genetic manipulations, researchers expect to «knock out» certain organs from the carrier’s body, place human cells in the vacant place and force them to form the corresponding organs, but already human, of the required size and shape.
«The animal will become an incubator,» says Pablo Juan Ross of the University of California, Davis. nine0011
It is already known that in theory this is possible. In 2010, Stanford University Medical School’s Hiromitsu Nakauchi and colleagues grew a rat pancreas in a mouse using a similar technique.
Now the most suitable «incubators» for human organs are pigs, whose anatomical structure is very close to the human.
If this plan works, it will help solve many of the current transplant problems.
«The average wait for a kidney transplant is now about three years,» explains Ross. At the same time, it would be possible to grow the required organ to order in the body of a pig in just five months.
«This is another advantage of using pigs as carriers: they grow very fast,» explains the scientist.
Interspecies chimeras can also be used in pharmacology.
It is not uncommon for new drugs to be tested in animals with successful results, but when the same drugs are used in humans, unexpected and undesirable effects occur.
«The result is a waste of time and money,» emphasizes Ispisua Belmonte. nine0011
Image copyright, Thinkstock
Image caption,
Some scientists are trying to grow human organs in pigs.
«If we put human cells inside the pig liver, then within the first year of work on the creation of the drug, we could determine whether it is potentially toxic to the human body,» the researcher notes. nine0011
Rossant agrees that the method has great potential, but emphasizes that scientists still have a lot of work to do: researchers will have to face very serious difficulties.»
Many of them are of a technical nature.
From the point of view of evolution, a man differs from a pig much more than a rat differs from a mouse. nine0011
Scientists know from experience that in such cases, the probability of rejection of donor cells by the carrier’s body increases significantly.
Image copyright, nobeastsofierce Science / Alamy
Image caption,
Research on human-animal hybrids is hampered by questions about their ethics
«Special conditions must be created for human cells to survive and divide [in a pig ]», emphasizes Ispisua Belmonte.
This will require finding a «primary», impeccably pure source of human stem cells capable of transforming into any tissue. nine0011
It may also be necessary to genetically modify the carrier’s body to reduce the likelihood of rejection of foreign cells.
However, so far the main obstacle hindering research is ethical considerations.
In 2015, the US Department of Health agency, the National Institutes of Health, placed a moratorium on funding for human-animal chimera experiments.
However, it was subsequently announced that the ban could be lifted — provided that each such experiment would be subject to additional evaluation before funding was granted. nine0011
Meanwhile, Izpisua Belmonte received a $2.5 million grant offer on condition that he use monkey cells instead of human cells to create the chimera.
Of greatest concern is the hypothetical possibility that human stem cells will reach the pig brain, resulting in a creature with some of the abilities and behaviors of humans.
«I think this scenario needs to be taken into account and discussed in detail in research,» says Rossant. After all, her chimeras did exhibit the temperamental traits of both mouse species. To create a human mind trapped in an animal body is a nightmare plot worthy of Wells’ pen. nine0011
Researchers are quick to point out that certain precautions can be taken. «By injecting cells at a certain stage in the development of the embryo, we may be able to avoid this risk,» says Belmonte.
Another possible way out is to program stem cells at the genetic level to self-destruct under certain conditions in order to avoid their penetration into the nervous tissue.
Image copyright Thinkstock
Image caption
Goat-sheep hybrids are very rare in nature
But these findings are not convincing enough for Stuart Newman, a cytobiologist at the New York College of Medicine, who has been worried about the implications of such experiments ever since the creation of the goat-sheep chimera in the 1980s.
Newman’s anxiety is caused not so much by the current plans of scientists, but by the future, in which chimeras could gradually acquire more and more human characteristics.
«The more human you can bring into these hybrids, the more interesting they become, both scientifically and medically,» he says. nine0011
«Now one might swear that one would never create chimeras in human likeness, but the underlying desire still remains. There is something about the topic itself that spurs scientists to move further and further in this direction.»
Suppose scientists have created a chimera to research a new drug for Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers are initially given permission to create a creature with a brain that is, say, 20% human. But over time, they may come to the conclusion that to fully understand the effects of the drug, it is necessary to increase the proportion of the human brain to 30 or 40 percent. nine0011
In addition, according to Newman, in order to receive funding, a researcher often has to state ever-larger research goals: “It’s not that scientists are trying to create monsters… Research is a natural, evolving process, and it won’t stop on its own.
” «.
Equally important, such experiments can dull our sense of belonging to the human race, Newman continues: «The transformation of our culture allows us to transcend these boundaries. In this case, the person is treated as just a material object.» nine0011
Knowing about the existence of human chimeras, we may not have too much doubt about the manipulation of human genes in order to create children «to order».
And Newman is not alone in his concerns.
Photo credit, Photos 12/Alamy
Photo caption,
«The Island of Dr. Moreau» turned animals into «humans» human and animal is focused on their cognitive abilities. nine0011
In this context, we may conclude that such chimeras may not be treated as humans unless they possess human rational thought or speech.
But such logic can lead us down the slippery slope of discussions about how to treat members of our own species.
«If society begins to view a person as a set of abilities, then it will treat its own members with a smaller set of these abilities as second-class people,» Evans warns.
nine0011
Izpisua Belmonte believes that many of these fears, especially those that are reflected in sensational newspaper headlines, are still groundless.
«The media and regulators think we’re going to start growing important human organs in pigs tomorrow. That’s science fiction speculation. We’re still at the very beginning of the journey.»
And, as the journal Nature writes, emotions should not be involved in the discussion about the ethics of such research. nine0011
The concept of interspecies chimerism may seem abhorrent to some, but the suffering of people with incurable diseases is no less terrible. It is impossible to solve moral and ethical problems only on the basis of instinctive reactions.
Whatever the final decision, it must be borne in mind that its potential consequences are not limited to the scientific realm.
«The way we talk about a person in this discussion can inadvertently change the way we view ourselves,» writes Evans.
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Indeed, it is the question of what defines a person that lies at the heart of Wells’ novel. After returning from the island of Dr. Moreau, Pendrick secludes himself in the English province far from large cities, preferring observation of the starry sky to human communication.
Having witnessed the forcible violation of the natural interspecies barrier, he can no longer look at people without noticing the animal nature in them: «It seemed to me that even I myself was not a rational human being, but a poor sick animal, tormented by some strange disease, which makes him wander alone like a lost sheep.» nine0011
You can read this article in the original in English on the site BBC Earth .
Human-animal breeding experiments resume in the US
Transhumanist lobby calls for repeal of ban on the creation of chimeras — a hybrid of human and animal embryos
The US Department of Health may lift the ban on crossing human cells and animal embryos.
National Institutes of Health (NIH) published an official proposal to the agency to re-allow experiments with so-called chimeras banned in 2015. The goal of the initiative is «a significant contribution to the animal brain» and «a significant functional modification of the animal brain» by introducing human cells into the embryo.
Mixing different types of cells in embryos invented in China. In Europe, for the first time, experiments with chimeras were legalized almost 10 years ago in the UK. There, in 2007, the «Law on Human Tissues and Embryos» was adopted. It allows scientists to create three different types of chimeras. In one case, animal cells are injected into a human embryo. The second is called a transgenic embryo and, conversely, involves the introduction of animal DNA into a human embryo. The third, a cytoplasmic hybrid, is created by replacing the devastated nucleus of an animal egg with human genetic material. nine0011
Chimeras have a lifespan of no more than two weeks, after which they must be destroyed.
Even in the last century, in some laboratories, chimera animals created at the embryonic level (for example, goat-sheep) were grown, but now it is not expected that the creature obtained as a result of crossing will be born and born. Why are they created at all? At this stage, scientists call them an ideal source of stem cells for the treatment of patients with severe genetic diseases. nine0011
TOMATO WITH THE PLUS GENE AND PIG INSULIN
The world leader in chimerization is the Monsanto Corporation and its former longtime CEO Robert Shapiro. It was here that the legendary tomatoes, wheat and potatoes with scorpion and flounder genes and other GMOs that do not get sick and do not rot were born. Other labs have developed fast-growing salmon by crossing them with other fish species. The goal, at first glance, is quite noble — to feed all the hungry, and every seventh person in the world is starving. Only now, in accordance with Khayyam’s well-known dictum that «it’s better to starve than to eat anything,» GMO products are convicted either in the development of atypical allergies, or in the threat of infertility among consumers.
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All of us have been participants in a gene experiment for a long time, and it is carried out not only through genetically modified food. A high percentage of hormonal drugs, such as insulin, as well as antiviral drugs and many other drugs, are created on the basis of gene modification of the blood and organs of the same rodents, cattle or pigs. And these are no longer experiments, but mass production, long established by pharmaceutical corporations.
Today, transhumanist scientists (to be more precise, PR managers of the corporations for which they work) insist that their developments will help get rid of serious diseases — for example, Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s. Or here’s a cure for cancer, which is so waiting for humanity, helping to look for mice and rats, which are injected with human cancer cells. Chimeras-animals, according to their idea, should become organ donors in the future. nine0011
Dozens, maybe hundreds of thousands of people all over the world are waiting for a heart, liver or kidney transplant and are dying precisely because there is a catastrophic shortage of donors.
It is this fact that becomes the main, and, as it seems, ironclad argument for genetic engineers. After all, this is exactly what they want — to grow a human kidney or liver inside a living pig or goat. Allegedly, this will also help fight the shadow system of organ trafficking.
LIE FOR ENRICHMENT
Let’s stop here for a moment. Worldwide, organ transplants are provided primarily through voluntary post-mortem donation. In Russia, the law «On transplantation of organs and tissues» is officially in force, according to which no consent from the patient is required. If the doctors find healthy organs from the deceased, for example, under the wheels of a car, they will remove them without even informing the relatives. Even a written refusal to autopsy or the child’s age of the deceased will not help. There are quite a few cases in Moscow when a child was returned “disemboweled”, although the consent of the parents is required to use the organs of a minor in donation.
What can we say about older patients who are secretly «dissected» simply in droves. Cases of this kind have recently begun to come to the surface, when relatives discovered seizures and sued. Where they found out that behind the doctors is the law and the state. nine0011
Armed conflicts become a real «holiday» for underground transplantologists, in which many young and strong men die, and the bodies are buried in mass graves far from their homeland. Such cases received wide resonance during the Balkan wars in the early 1990s. And even now, it is enough to look at the lists of the missing in Ukraine to understand that the underground has no problems with «resources».
It is clear that neither the first nor the second cases are included in any statistics. But it is much more profitable to maintain a shortage, real or imaginary, of donor organs in order, on the one hand, to keep the price of a liver or kidney transplant high, and on the other hand, to use this trump card to justify the cultivation of chimeras.
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However, research is now at the stage where human cells are introduced into an animal embryo at the gastrulation stage. This means that the formation of various body systems and organs has not yet begun. Simply put, the introduction of human cells at this stage may not affect the organs that they wanted to receive. And since the experiments are supposed to use mammals, the result of such crossing can be completely unpredictable. Although the US Department of Health assures that it will control the process so that the experiments do not affect the reproductive system of the chimera and the resulting hybrid could not even theoretically reproduce, it cannot give any guarantees yet … except for permission for the operation at a later stage of embryo development . nine0011
CHIMERAS AND MAN OF THE FUTURE
Let’s fantasize a little and imagine how this genetic history will develop further if we don’t interfere with it. It is clear that the first thing that comes into play are arguments about the treatment of diseases, which we see now.
Imagine, as scientists tell us, how we first cure all patients with stem cells, and then, at the intrauterine stage, the embryo is given an injection with stem cells obtained from a miracle chimera — and no Parkinson’s, no Alzheimer’s! People will forget about these diseases forever! nine0011
But the treatment will invariably be followed by an «improvement» of the body, the essence of which has been repeatedly described in novels and films about the near future. True, science fiction writers assumed that the modification of the human body would follow the path of augmentation, that is, the implantation of cyber elements into the body. And if the «chimeric line» develops? Imagine a woman in a medical center 50 years later. The doctor shows her the study of the embryo, lists the characteristics of the unborn child and, with a smile, suggests that changes be made. Do you want blonde hair or brown eyes? Do you want us to introduce the buffalo gene, which will make your son a hero, or the viper gene, which will protect against colds? scales? No, the scales won’t grow back, though.
.. You’ve got 10,000 dollars. nine0011
MONEY IS AGAINST ETHICS
The Catholic Church has already stated that if most of the cells in an embryo are human, then the creature whose embryo is obtained as a result of the experiment must be considered a human being and treated accordingly. So far, scientists have bred animals with 15 percent human cells. At least, these are the results that were made public. In most countries, such experiments are still banned, so that hardly any of the modern «Doctor Moreau» will publicly declare their achievements. nine0011
I must say that the scientific community is also not enthusiastic about the idea of growing chimeras. « If our predictions turn out to be erroneous, and security guarantees do not work, then the price of the error will have to be paid by all of humanity. As well as these new life forms that did not give their consent to participate in this enterprise ,» the doctor writes in the comments to the NIH proposal Teresa Fam .
