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News

News: August/September 2019

Michel Serres • Transgenic monkeys • Humans “quite nice” say researchers — News reports by Anja Steinbauer

Brainy Monkeys

In an attempt to better understand human intelligence, Chinese scientists have implanted human genes in monkey brains. The gene microcephalin (MCPH1), thought to play a crucial role in human fetal brain development, was implanted in the brains of eleven rhesus monkey embryos by means of an engineered virus. Their brain development took longer than normal but the six who survived to adulthood performed much better than their peers in a control group when tested for short term memory and reaction times.

The study by Lei Shi and others, published in the Beijing journal National Science Review, was a collaboration between Kunming Institute of Zoology in Yunan, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of North Carolina.

The Poison, the Fish & the Solution

In order to demonstrate that a chemical substance is not harmful to humans or animals, the European Union requires extensive tests, among them data that show at which concentration the substance will kill 50% of fish.

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