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Featherless Chickens

Posted by michael on from the inevitable-finger-licking-jokes dept.

Everyone and their brother wrote in about the featherless chicken. Besides the humor value, interesting in that we're creating another species with qualities that suit humans but unsuitable for life on its own.

3 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. hmm by Transcendent · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The naked chicken, as it has been dubbed, is also a low calorie bird because the lack of feathers means the chicken has less fat.

    I would think that it would gain fat since it has no feathers to trap in its own body heat...

    but then again, that would only happen if this bird was in nature...

  2. Re:Tip of the Iceburg by georgewad · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I _mostly_ agree. IANAGeneticist, but I work with many. This sort of 'loss of function' gene work is probably benign. What's more questionable is splicing of genes of different species (or even genus) into an organism. Also agriculture companies who engineer their crops to be resistant to their own herb- and insecticides in order to sell more of both raise serious alarms in my head. Test and label.

    --
    Karma: It's not just a good idea. It's the law.
  3. Anyone ever eaten Tilapia? by uslinux.net · · Score: 3, Interesting

    For those unfamiliar, Tilapia is a white fish which originated in Africa. Over the last decade, the fish has been specifically bred to be eaten. That's right, the Tilapia you order at your local seafood restaurant isn't found in the wild. Ironically, nobody seems to care, but this sort of genetic manipulatioon has been going on for ages.
    http://www.genomar.com/tilapia.php