Re: Is it possible to create a 98% human, 2% avian life form?

Hi Natalie,

Your question really has 2 parts:  1) is it technically/technologically possible to create such a 98% human:2% avian hybrid, & 2) could such a hybrid be functional, i.e. actually fly.  Flight is certainly an ability that many of us humans, including myself, have wished for at some point in our lives.  So your question definitely has merit.

I'm not real familiar w/ the Maximum Ride series, but it looks like their '2% avian' portion is just wings, if I'm not mistaken.  Consequently, the 1st part of your question is probably the most promising, believe it or not.  However, even w/ recent advances in creating genetically modified organisms, wings are very complex structures & unlikely to be engineered into a transgenic organism any time soon.

Furthermore, birds, as well as bats, also have other extensive adaptations essential for successful flight.  The most critical of these are their low mass/high density skeletons & a respiratory system capable of sustaining the high energy requirements of flight.  The 2 previous links will take you to a couple of excellent, but very scientific papers on their respective subjects.  So I'd like to also refer you to a very un-scientific, but possibly more interesting, blog discussion, Why can’t I have wings?  Even considering the questionable source, it's interesting that they come to much the same conclusion about the difficulty/unlikelihood for human flight after a very physiological discussion.

So as I mentioned before, even if part #1, the creation of transgenic wings in humans becomes technically feasible someday, part #2, the other extensive physiological modifications necessary for successful flight will more than likely still be insurmountable.

Nevertheless, many thanx for a great question,

Jeff Buzby, Ph.D.
CHOC Research Institute