Frankenstein's Cat: Cuddling Up to Biotech's Brave New Beasts (37 page)

mice: laboratory treatment of; transgenic

mice, genetically engineered; increased strength and longevity in; intentionally induced disease in; optical control of

Michigan, University of

micro air vehicles

microinjection

Miller, Gregg

Milo (author’s dog)

Missy (dog)

Missyplicity Project

mitochondria: in cloning process; genetic sequencing of

molecular biology

Monterey Bay Aquarium

morphogenesis

moths, remote-controlled

mouflon, cloning of

Mr. Green Genes (cat)

MRI machines, animals and

multiple sclerosis

Murray, James

Nagel, Thomas

Nano Hummingbird

National Academy of Sciences

National Institutes of Health

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center of

National Public Radio

natural world, public engagement with

Nature

nervous system, control of robotic limbs with

neutering

Neuticles

Nevada, University of, at Reno

New York Times

Noah (cloned gaur)

Noori (pashmina goat clone)

North America, rewilding of

Northeast Science Station, Siberia

Norton, Alex

Nottingham, University of

nuclear transfer; interspecies

nucleotides

oceanographers, marine tagging data and

oceans, crisis in

Ocean Tracking Network

Oman

opsins

optogenetics

organ transplants: from animals; genetic engineering and; immune system rejection of

osseointegration

overfishing

penguins; tracking of

PEPCK-C enzyme

PerPETuate

Petco

pets: cloning of; genetically engineered;
see also
GloFish; human relationships with; microchips in; neutering of; plastic surgery on; prosthetic limbs for; rights of

PetSmart

pharming

phosphorescence

pigs: cloning of; genetic engineering of; as organ donors

Pinta giant tortoise

Pistorius, Oscar

plastic surgery, on pets

Pleistocene epoch

Pleistocene Park

poaching

pollution

Polovina, Jeffrey

po’ouli

population growth, human

pop-up satellite tags

primates, rights of

prions

promoters, genetic

prosthetic devices, for animals

pupation

Purdue University, Center for the Human-Animal Bond at

Pyrenean ibex

radio collars

Rainbow (cat)

rats: laboratory treatment of; remote-controlled

Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago

remote control, of animal brains

repugnance, biotechnologies and

research, animals used in,
see
laboratory animals

retinal prostheses

reverse-engineering, of dinosaurs

rewilding

Rights of Non-human Persons program

RNA, messenger (mRNA)

RNA interference

RNL Bio

RoboRoach

robotic limbs, neural control of

Rollin, Bernard

Roslin Institute

Royal Guide Dog Association of Australia

Ruconest

salmon

sandhill cranes

San Diego Zoo

Sang, Helen

satellites, wildlife tracking and

Save Our Seabirds

Schuchat, Sam

Science

Second Chance (cloned Brahman bull)

selective breeding; of dogs; ethics of; of goldfish; of livestock

senses, genetically modified

Serpell, James

sheep, cloning of

Shriver, Adam

Siberia

Singer, Peter

Sixth Day, The
(film)

skin cancer

Smokey (cat)

Snuppy (cloned Afghan hound)

Social Technologies

somatic-cell nuclear transfer,
see
nuclear transfer

somatosensory cortex

Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat
(Herzog)

Sooam Biotech Research Foundation

South Korea

species: definition of; interbreeding of

Sperling, John

SpikerBox

Stanford University

Staphylococcus

State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate

stem cells; embryonic

Strzempka, Dan

sustainable resources

Symington, James

synthetic biology

Tag-A-Giant

Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP)

tags,
see
tracking devices

tail docking

Tasmanian tiger (thylacine)

testicles, prosthetic

tetra, fluorescent

Texas A&M University, Reproductive Sciences Laboratory at

thylacine (Tasmanian tiger)

thymine

Tiley, Laurence

tobacco hawk moth

tracking devices: acoustic tags; archival tags; behavior modified by; effects on animals; electronic tags; ethical concerns about; health monitors for; listening stations for; for marine animals; pop-up satellite tags; and public engagement with nature; radio collars; satellites and

Trakr (German shepherd)

transposons

troubled middle

tuna, tracking of

Tuna Research and Conservation Center (TRCC)

TurtleWatch

Twine, Richard

United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Van Eenennaam, Alison

vegetarianism

VetGen

ViaGen

viruses, as DNA delivery mechanisms

Voronoff, Serge

Walmart

Watson, James

welfare, conservation of; of humans vs. animals

Westhusin, Mark

“What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” (Nagel)

white rhinoceros

white-tailed deer, cloning of

wildlife, tracking of,
see
tracking devices

Winter (bottlenose dolphin)

Wired Wilderness
(Benson)

“Wisdom of Repugnance, The” (Kass)

World Dairy Expo

World Ocean Database

xenografting

X inactivation

Xu, Tian

Yellowstone National Park: gray wolves in; grizzly bears in

Yorktown Technologies

“yuck factor”

zebrafish;
see also
GloFish

Zimov, Sergey

zinc finger nucleases

ALSO BY EMILY ANTHES

Instant Egghead Guide: The Mind

A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emily Anthes is a journalist whose articles have appeared in
Wired
,
Scientific American
,
Psychology Today
,
Slate
,
The Boston Globe
, and other publications. She holds a master’s degree in science writing from MIT and a bachelor’s degree in the history of science and medicine from Yale. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her dog, Milo. You can visit her website at
www.emilyanthes.com
.

Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux

18 West 18th Street, New York 10011

Copyright © 2013 by Emily Anthes

All rights reserved

First edition, 2013

An excerpt from
Frankenstein’s Cat
originally appeared, in slightly different form, in
Scientific American
.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Anthes, Emily.

   Frankenstein’s cat: cuddling up to biotech’s brave new beasts / Emily Anthes. — First edition.

           pages   cm

       Includes bibliographical references and index.

       ISBN 978-0-374-15859-0 (hardcover: alk. paper)

       1.  Transgenic animals.   I.  Title.

    QH442.6 .A58 2013

    616.02'73—dc23

2012029045

Illustrations by Diego Patino

www.fsgbooks.com
•
books.scientificamerican.com

www.twitter.com/fsgbooks
•
www.facebook.com/fsgbooks

Scientific American is a trademark of Scientific American, Inc. Used with permission.

eISBN 9781429949521

*
In 2005, Gong’s team announced that they had successfully used GFP to create medaka—another species of small fish native to Asia—that did indeed turn green when they were exposed to environmental estrogens, synthetic chemicals that can disrupt the hormones of humans and other animals. In 2010, scientists at China’s Fudan University achieved a similar breakthrough with zebrafish. Despite these advances, South Korea, host of the 2010 G20 Summit, took a far cruder approach when it employed a school of security fish to protect the world’s leaders from contaminated water: If the goldfish swimming around in tanks of the water died, well, that might indicate a problem.

*
Not all aesthetic alterations are created equal. Scientists have created beagles that turn ruby under ultraviolet light—by transferring a sea anemone gene into the dogs—but these GloDogs, as it were, are disturbing to gaze upon. They would surely be a harder sell than GloFish, perhaps because cough-syrup red is a color that never naturally occurs in the canine kingdom. Since nature itself has created some fish that are red and orange, however, artificially adding one of these hues to an aquarium resident doesn’t seem so jarring.

*
Another company, Lifestyle Pets, already sells what it claims are hypoallergenic cats. The cats, which go for nearly $7,000 a pop, are not products of direct genetic manipulation. Instead, the company says it has merely identified and bred cats with a natural mutation in
Fel d 1
. However, it remains unclear whether Lifestyle Pets has truly cracked the hypoallergenic code; controversy has long swirled around the company and its scientific claims.

*
We’ve also saddled dog breeds with all sorts of inherited diseases, and the English bulldog has been pushed so far by human selection that it is literally handicapped. The breed’s massive head doesn’t fit through the birth canal, and pups are usually born via cesarean section. Their snouts are so short that the dogs can barely breathe—they suffer from sleep apnea and a lifetime of oxygen deprivation. These breathing difficulties also mean that the animals have trouble regulating their own body temperature, and many suffer early deaths from respiratory or heart failure. “If bulldogs were the products of genetic engineering, there would be protest demonstrations throughout the Western world, and rightly so,” James Serpell, the director of the Center for the Interaction of Animals and Society at the University of Pennsylvania, once wrote. “But because they have been generated by anthropomorphic selection, their handicaps not only are overlooked but even, in some quarters, applauded.”