14. The Vacanti Mouse
As if the rat king weren’t enough, rodents again make an appearance on the list of horrifying images. In 1997, two scientists attempted to use nude laboratory mice to create and grow human body parts for reconstructive and plastic surgery. The scientists, Joseph and Charles Vacanti, created the Vacanti mouse that same year.
The mouse became the home of a human-shaped ear created from cow cartilage cells. They implanted the ear in the back of the nude laboratory mouse. Nude mice were chosen for this experiment since they lack an immune system, so they will not reject any foreign bodies or cells implanted in them.
The mouse successfully bore the humanoid ear, but it had no medical value. The mouse had no human cells, having no genetic engineering, nor did the cow cartilage “ear.” The ear, therefore, could never be transplanted onto a human as anyone’s body would immediately reject it. All the Vacantis really accomplished was making a terrifying-looking illusion of a nude mouse and a human-shaped ear made of bovine cartilage. A famous photograph of the mouse with what appeared to be a human ear on its back circulated widely on the internet, often with no context. The disturbing photo led to a wave of protests against genetic engineering, even though no engineering was involved in the experiment.