This story on how Chinese scientists have created chimeras – i.e. human-animal hybrids is a pretty stark reminder that a lot of the stuff predicted in science fiction is coming a lot faster than we realize. Similarly, I remember when I was a little kid my Dad would tell me how he thought a lot of “bad” medieval science would one day become cutting edge. He primarily had in mind alchemy. We used to think that it was so silly for medieval scientists (“wizards) to try to turn lead into gold. But one day soon that might justbe cutting-edge physics.