Last week, Massachusetts General Hospital announced the successful transplant of a genetically modified pig kidney into a living human—the fourth surgery of its kind. While scientific advancements have only recently made such procedures possible, the idea of xenotransplantation has been around for centuries, both in research and literature.

In her 2003 dystopian novel Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood imagined genetically modified “Pigoons,” designed specifically for organ transplantation. At the time, they were a scientific dream. But as this technology moves from science fiction to reality, so do the urgent questions and ethical concerns it raises. How closely does this xenotransplantation align with Atwood’s fictitious pigoons? What threats does her novel warn us of? And where might the future of xenotransplantation take us?

Special thanks to interviewees Joren Madsen, Mike Curtis, and Neel Mukherjee for their contributions.

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