…and may your nights be aglow with cats
Korean scientists reached a new milestone by cloning several Turkish Angora cats that glow under UV light. Intended for genetic research, these felines had fluorescent genes added to their donor’s cells during the cloning process. Provided this doesn’t somehow result in a black market for glowcat fur stoles, it’s pretty great for both research and glow-stuff enthusiasts worldwide.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/upQ_a-ch-pU" width="400" height="330" wmode="transparent" /]
You may also remember the green glow-pigs of recent science history.
December 18th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
While I know PETA hates such experiments I find them incredibly cool and would love to have one. Mainly cause I enjoy stuff that glows in the dark…but I can see why it’s a very bad idea to let them into the general population at the moment. Would pretty much destroy a cats hunting ability…but for a domesticated cat no real issue…though I will admit that story about the “mouse with no fear” of cats experiment scares the hell out of me. Rats and mice are bad enough without making em all suicide bomber like.
December 18th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
I think I see many fat glowing pets in my future!
December 18th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Okay, so if anyone tries calling this animal abuse then I’ll be pissed.
These kittens are lucky. I wish I could glow.
I wanttttttttttttttttt!
December 18th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
…and for anyone that didn’t hear about the see-through frogs:
http://www.mutantfrog.com/2007/09/28/japan-creates-translucent-frog/
Science is digging into some weird stuff…it’s great!
December 19th, 2007 at 8:07 am
I wish they’ d stop using animals for silly, pointless experiments as this. I like glowing things and love cats, but don’ t see the point of a glowing cat!
December 19th, 2007 at 10:14 am
Eta – I understand your concern, but the reason these particular glowing cats is medical. Scientists hope to use methods such as this one to identify diseases, tumors, etc. in humans.
Skerror – excellent frog link, thank you.
Lauren – yes.
December 19th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Cats? I want kids that glow in the dark.
October 9th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Sorry to burst everyone’s bubble, but the cats only glow under a certain light type, not in the dark. It would be impossible to use Fluffy as a nightlight, a rave accessory, or a traffic deterrent.
@Tequila: There are also glowing mice, so you could call it even. And isn’t it Toxoplasma, not human work, that makes rodents unafraid?