The Island of Dr. Moreau For Real

Fact, it has been said, is stranger than fiction. And fiction can be pretty strange. Take, for instance, an 1896 novel by famous English thinker, H.G. Wells, "The Island of Dr. Moreau." As one can see from the date of its publication, the book was written on the threshold of a new century, and Wells, famous as a "futuristic" thinker, was trying to look ahead. The premise of the novel is that a scientist, on a secluded island, undertakes experiments to combine humans and animals. One might call this simply a wild and crazy idea, but a harmless one for a novel, an idea producing plenty of chills and thrills for readers and for moviegoers. After all, it would never happen in real life. Well, hold onto your hats. It is about to happen. Not here (at least, not yet), but in England. On Sept. 5, a government agency (called the Human Fertilization and Embryology Agency or HFEA) decided to let scientists, mad or otherwise, create human/animal hybrids. Let me repeat: Science fiction will become science fact very soon; and man and beast will be combined into one.