The project was first unveiled in the Chinese-language journal, Military Medical Sciences,
and has been gaining more and more media attention and interest within
the scientific community, but is also raising serious ethical
quandaries, despite the experiment being defended by its overseers as
"totally legal".
According to details, the military scientists say they've successfully
"inserted a gene from the microscopic water bear into human embryonic
stem cells and significantly increased these cells’ resistance to
radiation."
"They
said success in this unprecedented experiment could lead to super-tough
soldiers who could survive nuclear fallout," SCMP writes. The initiative
involved the experimental introduction into human DNA (utilizing
embryonic cells) of a key gene found the water bear. The gene in
question gives the microscopic creature rare resistance to radiation and
other extreme environmental effects."ZH
