March 06, 2007, 08:30
missannchimera (chimaera)
Pronounced ki-mir-a. This was a mythical monster composed of several animals. There was a documentary on TV last night about a woman who had two different kinds of cells in her body, eachkind with a different DNA.
In biology, this is sometimes called a
mosaic. The term mosaic is often used specifically, as for a picture made of colored tiles, as well as broadly, as, "his thoughts were a mosaic."
I am not aware of the term chimera used broadly or poetically, except for a John Donne quote in the dictionary. It is a beautiful word. Does anyone know of other uses?
March 06, 2007, 10:00
CaterwaullerI thought chimera was one of those clay wood oven thingies you can have on your porch for evening fires.
March 09, 2007, 22:16
Myth JelliesNotably, Nancy Kress, and other sci-fi authors have been writing about chimeric DNA for some time now.