“More than 109,000 people are currently waiting to get a donor organ in the United States. Last year, however, only 39,718 total transplants were performed.”
In Future Human, staff writer Emily Mullin delivers a fascinating bit of news about our organ shortage: A Chinese biotech startup co-founded by Harvard geneticist George Church has produced 2,000 genetically engineered pigs — dubbed “Pig 3.0” — in hopes of finding ways to safely transplant their organs into humans in need.
The story presents an occasion to reflect on a curious dimension of our times: Although we generally think of “platforms” in terms of online spaces like Facebook, flesh and blood are mutable through new forms of technology. In a sense, these pigs are platforms in and of themselves — and through technology like CRISPR, human genes can be, as well. (Feel free to light up that joint now, by the way.)
Read more about Pig 3.0 below:
