What Happens When Scientists Put a Human Intelligence Gene Into a Monkey?

Other scientists are concerned and ethical questions linger over where the research on brain genes may lead.

By Teal Burrell
Dec 6, 2022 9:00 PMDec 6, 2022 8:55 PM
Monkey Barcode - Shutterstock
(Credits: Macaque, Glass and Nature/Shutterstock; DNA Barcode, Zita/Shutterstock)

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This article was originally published on Dec. 29, 2019.

Scientists adding a human intelligence gene into monkeys — it’s the kind of thing you’d see in a movie like Rise of the Planet of the Apes. But Chinese researchers have done just that, improving the short-term memories of the monkeys in a study published in March 2019 in the Chinese journal National Science Review. While some experts downplayed the effects as minor, concerns linger over where the research may lead. 

Brain Gene Research in Monkeys

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