io9: Chimeras

Drive your turtle-tank over the amber waves of ham

Cyriaque Lamar — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 07:30:00 PDT

Collage artist Nicolas Lampert takes innocuous, old-timey photographs and chops them up in such a way that the mundane becomes the casually horrific. Insects are cross-bred with construction equipment, and putrid, megalithic piles of liverwurst dot the American heartland. More »

Halfthings (a.k.a. when will see centaurs and Mr. Spock?)

Kay Holt - Science In My Fiction — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 16:00:00 PDT

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Mermaids. Angels. Mister Spock. Speculative fiction sure enjoys a good mash-up, but how likely are we to see genuine human/other hybrids? It depends on what one means by ‘hybrid'. More »

Animal-Cyborg Soccer Slaves Of 2178

charliejane — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 12:00:23 PST

This new ad for Puma's v1.08 soccer boot freaks me out. In the year 2178, soccer players will have their legs ripped off and replaced with weird cyber-horse legs, so they can trot around and do kangaroo jumps for the amusement of their beer-swilling orthohuman masters. Until then, the ad says, the closest you can get to being a deformed cyber-beast athlete is to buy Puma's newest model. It's just the latest in a long line of freaky dystopian adverts. More »

Growing Mice with Human Livers

Annalee Newitz — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:00:57 PST

"Chimera" mice grown with livers made of human cells are the ultimate test bed for new liver drugs, say scientists. Already, bio geeks have been growing mice with human brain cells, so this liver stuff is just icing on the genetic cake. [Salk Institute] More »