Finally, a solution to the problem of tripping over cats in the dark:
AFP: South Koreans clone cats that glow in the dark
Finally, a solution to the problem of tripping over cats in the dark:
AFP: South Koreans clone cats that glow in the dark
From experience, it has to be very dark to trip over a white furred cat, and these would need UV lamps anyway. Still, the implication of the technique looks important.
I say there is an invisible elf in my backyard. How do you prove that I am wrong?
The Leif Ericson Cruiser
There are some cats you just don't have to worry about tripping over.
Strange?!?!
The article says they cloned three cats and there are three cats in the pictures, but the article also says one was stillborn.![]()
That is both cool and creepy. Its bad enough I wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of the cat snoring or washing herself; I don't need to see her glowing in the dark.
Still, might be good for mice, if they could evolve UV emitters.![]()
I wonder where they got that idea....
Sandy Skoglund, Radioactive Cats, 1981, 65 x 81 cm
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
From the article, and bolding is mine.
I'm assuming the one on the right is the original copy.The cats were born in January and February. One was stillborn while two others grew to become adult Turkish Angoras, weighing 3.0 kilogrammes (6.6 pounds) and 3.5 kilogrammes.
Cat-related frankenstein news of the day for 2007 December 13:
AP: Japan Scientists Develop Fearless Mouse
The age-old animosity between cats and mice could be a thing of the past with genetically modified mice that Japanese scientists say show no fear and shed new light on mammal behavior.
Scientists at Tokyo University say they have used genetic engineering to successfully switch off a mouse's instinct to cower at the smell or presence of cats — showing that fear is genetically hardwired and not learned through experience, as commonly believed.
In nature, fearless mice are known as "food."
Edit: Thsi sounded familiar. Something similar has been done before:
http://www.nih.gov/news/radio/dec2005/12162005mice.htm
Researchers have found that by knocking out a gene in the brain, they can create a mouse that is not bothered by situations that would ordinarily trigger instinctive or learned fear responses — hence a living, breathing "Mighty Mouse". According to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health, a gene in the mouse brain encoding a protein called "stathmin" appears to be critical in forming fear memories.
I say there is an invisible elf in my backyard. How do you prove that I am wrong?
The Leif Ericson Cruiser
That's cool! Will it work for dogs?
Think they can turn off the gene that makes little dogs annoying and yappy to the point where punting sounds like a great idea?
I trip over my dog's tail a lot (accidentally) when I come in from watching the stars, and if I could shine a UV flashlight in front of me, I'd see it glowing and step around it.
You'd think the dog would eventually figure out how to keep the tail out of danger. Maybe if you step on the tail hard, he'll get the idea!
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt.
From what I'd read, the "fearless" mouse's genes suppress the development of cells in the nose. If so, it sounds like the mouse isn't detecting that the furry object is a cat, not that its fear was suppressed.
I say there is an invisible elf in my backyard. How do you prove that I am wrong?
The Leif Ericson Cruiser
I say there is an invisible elf in my backyard. How do you prove that I am wrong?
The Leif Ericson Cruiser