Wednesday, December 12, 2007

"If there's anybody out there that wants a hole drilled in their head and a pineal extender grafted to their pineal gland, let me know"

That's a message from bioartist Adam Zaretzky (no relation), in this NPR piece on a group of artists whose work involves "engineering living tissue and even living beings." One couple has "grown a replica of an ear with living human skin cells, miniature wings with the flesh of a pig and mouse cells in the shape of a tiny leather jacket." Stanford Law Professor Hank Greely says: "The legal situation is murky in several directions, and I think it's highly likely that not all artists are carefully advised about it."