Chimpanzees are our closest relatives, so it’s not surprising that they can do many of the things that we can. They’re able to create tools and can even use sign language, plus they share 98.8 per cent of their DNA with humans. It is, therefore, no wonder that the question has often been asked: could humans and chimps ever produce offspring? The answer, according to one evolutionary psychologist, is yes – and it’s already happened. Gordum Gallup made the eyebrow-raising claims in an interview with The Sun Online back in 2018. He told the news site that a human-chimpanzee hybrid – which he dubbed a “humanzee” – was born in a Florida lab 100 years ago. And if you’re wondering how the scientists behind the experiment managed to keep it hushed up for decades, it’s because – according to Gallup – they swiftly killed the infant when they realised the implications of what they’d done. Gallup, a professor at New York’s University at Albany, said his former university teacher told him that the secret birth took place at a research facility in Orange Park, where he used to work. “They inseminated a female chimpanzee with human semen from an undisclosed donor and claimed not only that pregnancy occurred but the pregnancy went full term and resulted in a live birth,” the psychologist told The Sun. “But in a matter of days, or a few weeks, they began to consider the moral and ethical considerations and the infant was euthanised.” Putting Gallup’s unsubstantiated story to one side, it’s unclear whether a human-chimpanzee hybrid is even possible. Some experts believe that our human ancestors and chimpanzees may have been capable of interbreeding as late as 4 million years ago according to IFL Science, which notes that our last common ancestor lived 6-7 million years ago. However, the website also notes that this theory is widely contested. It also points out that other animals with similar genetic differences to that of humans and chimps, such as horses and zebras, have been able to reproduce. And yet, the offspring are often infertile. Nevertheless, back in the 1970s, plenty of people believed that a chimp called Oliver was a human-monkey hybrid thanks to his humanistic walk, intelligence and physical features (he was said to have a smaller, flatter face than his ape peers, according to Historic Mysteries). It wasn't until tests were conducted on Oliver in 1996 that the matter was finally settled: he had 48 chromosomes so was categorically not a humanzee but a regular chimp. Oliver The Humanzee www.youtube.com Still, one certainty is that scientists continue to tread an ethical tightrope when it comes to investigating chimps and their potential to further biomedical research. In 2021, scientists created the first (publicly documented) part-monkey, part-human embryo by growing human stem cells in a macaque monkey. The aim of the work, which was carried out at California’s Salk Institute, was to help create organs for transplants and improve our understanding of human development and disease progression. In 2020, a team of German and Japanese scientists spliced human genes into the brains of marmosets, resulting in the monkey fetuses having larger, more human-like brains, according to the study, which was published in the journal Science. Once the experiment was complete, the team destroyed their creations “in light of potentially unforeseeable consequences with regard to postnatal brain function”. One thing’s for sure, no scientist wants to find themselves the architect of a real-life Planet of the Apes. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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NASA is turning its attention from the stars to our screens, after it announced it will launch its own streaming service. The organisation announced that it is launching a beta for a streaming platform with the name NASA+ – and yes, the plus is shaped to look like a star. It looks like the streaming service will be ad-free and available to watch on the new beta site and the NASA app. Essentially, it’ll work a little like Netflix for space content, updating the current Nasa TV output which features livestreams of rocket launches and other events. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter There’s not much information out there about the new platform but it’ll come “later this year” and NASA has stated that it won’t require a paid subscription. NASA communications administrator Marc Etkind said in the press release that the organisation has designed the platform around “putting space on demand at your fingertips”. Introducing NASA's On-Demand Streaming Service, NASA+ (Official Trailer) www.youtube.com Judging by the look of the new promo clip, it’ll feature a lot of educational videos and public content as well as documentaries. “Modernizing our main websites from a technology standpoint and streamlining how the public engages with our content online are critical first steps in making our agency’s information more accessible, discoverable, and secure,” said NASA chief information officer Jeff Seaton. Meanwhile, it comes after Nasa celebrated the first birthday of the James Webb Space Telescope this summer by releasing extraordinary images of stars 'being born'. In the images, which almost look surreal, rainbow bursts with tiny twinkles can be seen. "The darkest areas are the densest, where thick dust cocoons still-forming protostars", the space giants say. These occur when a star first bursts through its natal envelope of cosmic dust, shooting out a pair of opposing jets into space like a newborn first stretching her arms out into the world." Nasa also recently stated that it discovered “diverse organic matter” on the surface of Mars, which could change our understanding of the red planet and the search for life in the universe. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Jim Ryan was with the company from before the launch of the first-ever PlayStation in 1994.