Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein is often seen as an illustration of modern fears that humanity's pursuit of scientific knowledge and truth may often cross “sacred” moral and ethical boundaries. As is often the case with warning novels, it can sometimes seem like they are accepted as a guide by some people.
Here is a summary of experiments in which scientists played with life and death. They probably would have made Dr. Frankenstein shudder. Despite the fact that these experiments were crude and unethical by today's standards, many scientists were not afraid to dive into new waters in the field of biomedical research. In other cases, they may have just gone crazy.
Turning a cat into a phone
In 1929, Ernest Glen Waver and Charles Bray were able to turn a live cat into a walkie-talkie.
After removing a piece of the animal's skull, they attached one electrode to the cat's right auditory nerve and the other to its body. The electrodes were attached with an 18 meter cable to an amplifier in a soundproof room. When one of the researchers spoke into the cat's ear, the sound was heard in the receiver.
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The study says: “The speech was transmitted with great accuracy. Simple commands were easy to get. Indeed, in good condition, the system was used as a means of communication between the operating room and the soundproof room."
Then they killed the cat and tried again, but realized that dead cats cannot serve as radios, while living ones can.
Soviet surgeon and his two-headed dog
Vladimir Demikhov was born in 1918, right after the October Revolution. He is a Soviet scientist who experimented with animal transplants from the 1930s to the 1960s. Despite the fact that he is now perceived as a kind of pioneer, creepy experiments on dogs have left a stain on his reputation. Most notable were his attempts to put two dogs together.
During the operation, he sewed the forearms and head of a small 9-year-old dog named Shawka onto a larger stray dog named Vagabond. The operation involved the separation of the jugular vein, aorta and the spinal column of Shawka and their connection to the circulatory system of the Tramp's body.
The two heads were able to eat and drink separately, although both dogs died four days later. Nevertheless, Demikhov tried to repeat this experiment dozens of times with various animals.
The report on this story in 1959 contained a fair dose of skepticism and fear. One of the magazines said that “The Russians, who created the two-headed dog, are now going to engage in human organ transplants. It is planned to sew a new leg on a woman who has lost her own. However, this operation was never carried out. But at one time, Demikhov also began to carry out transplants.
Facial reconstruction after World War I
The history of surgery, however, has not always been tainted by the actions of mad scientists.
During and after World War I, at least 3,000 soldiers underwent surgery at the Royal Hospital to get rid of the marks of wounds they received from shrapnel. Although visually shocking, the operations were truly remarkable for their time.
Dr. Harold Gillis's work has been the best documented. He wrote the book "Facial Plastic Surgery", which is popular even after a hundred years.
One of his most impressive feats was surgery on Lieutenant William Spreckley, who suffered a shot in the face in January 1971. The injury caused massive damage to the nose and cheeks. Dr. Gillis used rib cartilage from another patient and implanted it in Lieutenant Spreckley's forehead. The cartilage remained there for six months, and in a subsequent operation it was used to build a new nose. After three years of surgery and treatment, Spreckley was discharged in October 1920 and looked significantly better.
It is therefore not surprising that Dr. Gillies is often regarded as the godfather of modern plastic surgery.
Glow in the dark pigs
Scientists have tried to genetically mutate all types of plants and animals so that they can glow in the dark, from chickens and tobacco plants to, of course, rats. But perhaps the strangest of all were the glow-in-the-dark pigs.
In 2006, scientists from the Department of National Taiwan University of Animal Science and Technology added the genetic information of jellyfish to pig embryos. The result was three pigs that emitted fluorescent green light in the dark. Even stranger, scientists say, the pigs' organs also glowed. While this was not the first time pigs were made to glow, Taiwan scientists were particularly proud of their accomplishments, saying they had the best glow-in-the-dark pigs ever made.
The scientists who bred these transgenic pigs emphasized that the results could be used to further research on stem cells and human diseases. Needless to say, most people were shocked by it all.
Mouse with a human ear
Wakanti is a mouse lab that was part of a 1997 study. In it, the rodent received something similar to a human ear, grown on its back.
The ear on the back of the mouse was actually made from a biodegradable polymer. After it was placed under the skin of a mouse, the cartilage was able to grow in the shape of an ear. In their experiment, the scientists used chondrocytes - the cartilage cells of a cow.
This experiment was conceived as a demonstration that tissue cartilage can be grown. Nevertheless, it became a meme in an era before no one knew the meaning of the word, and circulated through the e-mail loops, causing distrust. An equally bizarre experiment was also conducted in a 2013 study.
Ethical side of the coin
Science and morality have always had a difficult past. The problem becomes even more complex when one considers that many of these morally questionable steps have actually helped advance our knowledge of medicine, biology, psychology, and genetics. It seems that when science tries to push our understanding of the natural world, it can equally test our understanding of morality.
The reaction of modern media
Even now, at a time when heart transplants are not viewed with skepticism, some types of experiments can still challenge our minds and grab the front pages of news. For example, the current plans of the Italian neurosurgeon Professor Sergio Canavero to perform the world's first head transplant have led to the fact that the media began to refer to him as "Dr. Frankenstein."