In Greek mythology the Minotaur was a creature that were half bull, half man. This creature dwelt in the centre of a labyrinth, located in Knossos. Now the beast is reborn. In the UK.

Genetics in the UK have created a mixture of cow and man – in an early fetal stadium. The Catholic church are yelling and calling this monstrous. In some aspects, they are into something. You can read more about the Minotaur myth in Wikipedia.

According to the BBC this is the first time in the UK where it is created a hybrid embryo, a mixture of man and animal. Researchers from the University of Newcastle are the fathers of this project, which is done by taking DNA from cells in human skin and injected them into a cows eggs. These eggs were first extracted from the cow and cleaned for almost all genetic material from the cow.
The purpose with this project was to get access to stem cells, cells which could be used later on in therapeutic research.

This raise a lot of ethical and philosophical issues. Should we play with life in this manner? Why should we not do this kind of experiments in order to get precious stem cells for further research into serious human diseases? What if someone want to duplicate this and develop the embryo further?

BBC states:
For supporters of embryo research the creation of hybrid embryos is a small but significant move forward.

For opponents it is a step too far.

Read the article on BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7323298.stm

The mythic Minotaur on Wikipedia.