"Manimals" are around the corner, according to the bioethics writer for the Washington Post and Slate, William Saletan. In an update on scientists’ progress towards creating animals with varying degrees of human characteristics, he points out that "the more you humanise animals, the better they serve their purpose as lab models of humanity. That’s what scary about species mixing. It’s not some crazy Frankenstein project. It’s the future of medicine."

Saletan points out that at Stanford, where human brain stem cells have already been inserted into foetal mice, even more ambitious projects are afoot. Ethicists there have tentatively endorsed the notion of humanised mouse brains. Even endowing mice with "some aspects of human consciousness or some human cognitive abilities" might prove useful. The UK’s Academy of Medical Sciences and the US National Academy of Sciences have refused to permanently restrict the humanisation of animals.

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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