Werewolves as their own species.

[Scott Gardener]

Ditto on the point at hand; I've endevoured to make that a significant premise in my novel. However, it's indeed more a poetic matter than a science issue. Species identity and memory contents theoretically can be seperated. If I got magically turned into a wolf--not a werewolf, but a full blown wolf, 78 chromosomes and all that, distinct from other wolves only by a very crammed 400 cubic centimeter brain, stuffed with 1400 cubic centimeters worth of human memories and experiences, I'd be considered a former human, not a human. The debate rages on...

One bit of science fact to toss in... Gene replacement therapy.

The technology already exists; it's not just a theory. Humans with cystic fibrosis suffer from a defect at the molecular level, in a chloride channel in cellular membranes, that causes improper flow of ions in and out of cells. This causes several problems, but the most significant is the production of excessively thick mucus in the inner linings of lungs, producing asthma-like problems paired with a tendancy to develop frequent pneumonias. One treatment is the use of a viral vector to insert into the cells lining alveoli in the lungs a corrected chloride channel. Note that the virus does not change every cell in the body, only a few, and not the gamete precursor cells of the gonads, so the "gene patch" is not a hereditary form of genetic engineering. But, it does represent the use of viruses to modify human DNA. I was stunned to learn about this in college, because I would have pegged such technology as still a number of decades away, were humans even willing to consider doing it. Note that science unequivocally considers people who have undergone this therapy to be still human.