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Australian Science Makes the Regenerating Mouse

FruFox writes "Australian scientists have created mice which can regenerate absolutely any tissue except for the tissues of the brain. Heart, lungs, entire limbs, you name it. This is the first time this has been seen in mammals. The potential implications are positively mammoth. I thought this warranted attention. :)"

62 of 762 comments (clear)

  1. Start building better mousetraps! by richie2000 · · Score: 4, Funny
    The potential implications are positively mammoth.

    Yeah, it means we have to aim for the head when the monster-mice attack. Personally, I welcome our new genetically modified near-unkillable regenerative mice overlords.

    That aside, I first thought they had made a computer mouse that generated power when moved á la regenerative braking in electrical cars.

    --
    Money for nothing, pix for free
    1. Re:Start building better mousetraps! by KDR_11k · · Score: 2, Funny

      Naah, we'll get purr-triggered mines disguised as yarnballs.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    2. Re:Start building better mousetraps! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      the g/m chinese! uh oh...

    3. Re:Start building better mousetraps! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      Koreans

    4. Re:Start building better mousetraps! by H3lldr0p · · Score: 2, Funny

      Gorillias. That way, when winter comes, they just die off.

    5. Re:Start building better mousetraps! by ultranova · · Score: 2, Funny

      genetically modified cats (eh we deal with them later on)

      Why bother dealing with them ? Just make sure that the cats are female, make them vaguely human-shaped (two legs and two breasts), and sell them to Japanese animation fans.

      It might be a fucked-up solution, in more ways than one, but it is a solution.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  2. Re:unacceptable! by wardude · · Score: 5, Funny

    The body piercing people are going to hate this.

  3. Does this mean... by asliarun · · Score: 3, Funny

    that succeeding generations will now be called regenerations?

  4. Re:unacceptable! by Patrik_AKA_RedX · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Union of Science Fiction Writers? Must be frustrating having your best ideas copied by reality so often.

  5. I don't suppose by el_womble · · Score: 4, Funny

    They called it Wolverine did they?

    --
    Scared of flying, pointy things snce 1979!
    1. Re:I don't suppose by retrosteve · · Score: 3, Funny

      In unrelated news, shadowy German mad scientists announce they have created titanium mouse skeletons with long, nasty claws.

    2. Re:I don't suppose by coldblooded · · Score: 2, Funny

      In another unrelated news John Wayne Bobbit has pledged all of his current and future capital to the Wistar Institute.

  6. Re:Australian scientists made mammoths? by EnsilZah · · Score: 1, Funny

    No no no!
    The correct synthax is "I, for one, welcome are new mouse overlords"

  7. Finally! by kote-men-do · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now I can just retire and keep selling kidneys on eBay!

    1. Re:Finally! by Patrik_AKA_RedX · · Score: 3, Funny

      To who? I don't know if many cannibals have internet and if they like kidney. Better try selling ribs.

  8. Mouseman by EnsilZah · · Score: 5, Funny

    So if one of those bites me do i become mouseman?
    Do i get the amazing ability to pee all over the place and crawl into small spaces?
    Or do i need to irradiate it first?

  9. Zombie mice! by phoenix321 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Since Australia already has a huge problem with billions of unwanted rodents, rabbits, rats and mice in particular, I don't know what the advent of zombie creatures will bring them now. Oh yes, they will never leave the lab. That's what they want us to believe.

    Not to be fearful again, but ahem, do we really need mammals that can only be killed by headshots? Don't these guys ever learn from zombie movies? Think of the CHILDREN!!! I guess it's time to zip over to S-Mart and grab a shotgun, because I KNOW some mouse will sooner or later BITE one of the scientists and then all hell breaks loose.

    Anyone seen Bruce Campbell lately? We might need him.

    1. Re:Zombie mice! by bersl2 · · Score: 2, Funny

      "There can be only one!"?

  10. Oi! Spelling in the post! by Anonymous+Writer · · Score: 1, Funny

    It reads Australiam scientists. That should be Australiam sciemtists.

  11. Opening of Q3A source pays off by lxs · · Score: 3, Funny

    You see why open source is a good thing? The Quake 3 source hasn't been open for a month and already the REGENERATION upgrade has been incorporated into mice. Now let's all hope and pray that the QUAD DAMAGE code doesn't fall into the wrong hands.

  12. Re:Wrong countries by ozmanjusri · · Score: 5, Funny

    Unless there is some information that I am missing, I would say that this was a US breakthrough.

    Yes, true, but the linked article was in an Australiam newspaper. That makes it an Australiam discovery, based on the little known "mention us in print and it's ours" clause of the Aus-US free trade agreement.

    --
    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  13. Re:Wrong countries by aussie_a · · Score: 4, Funny

    The slashdot summary says Australian scientists

    No, the slashdot title sayd Australian science, while the summary says Australiam scientists.

    Obviously this was a New Zealander who submitted this, pretending to be an Australian to make us all look stupid.

  14. New penis enlargement spam? by frinkacheese · · Score: 1, Funny

    I can see it now, the new penis enlargement spam. Simply grow a new penis on a mouse and attach, it really does work!

  15. Cool by CleverNickedName · · Score: 2, Funny

    I long for the day, in the far future, when I can lose an arm is a horrific fishing accident and automatically grow it back again.

    Of course, waiting five years to have a toddler's arm hanging out of your shoulder isn't ideal either...

    --


    Unfortunately, I am not Wil Wheaton
  16. Re:generate by Zawash · · Score: 2, Funny

    Oh no! Now we will have regenerating trolls in real life as well! ..This might be the end of slashdot as we know it!

    Quick - do they regenerate fire damage and holy damage as well? What about +1 weapons?

    --
    File not found. Fake it(Y/N)? _
  17. Re:Wrong countries by madaxe42 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Actually, it says 'Australiam', not 'Australian'. Everybody knows that Australiam is another word for 'American', used by peruvian moose hunters living in Berlin, while wearing their kitten-skin hats.

  18. Imagine... by Conanymous+Award · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...a Beowulf Cluster of these! Yeah, a regenerating mouse cluster!

  19. Mice are using us humans... by ciupman · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... to achieve immortality. We are working for them and still don't realize it.. Douglas Adams was right!!!!

    --
    I fuse with Mercer every single day...
    1. Re:Mice are using us humans... by whovian · · Score: 3, Funny

      ... to achieve immortality. We are working for them and still don't realize it.. Douglas Adams was right!!!!

      Next thing you know, mice will be taking plotting every night to take over the world.

      --
      To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
  20. In other news.... by shri · · Score: 1, Funny

    Scientists at Slashdot have created a perl script which can regenerate absolutely any typos, except for those introduced by the editors.

    This is the first time I've seen this on a website.

    The implications are positively google.

    I thought this warranted attention. :)

  21. Slashdot editor's brains by steman · · Score: 3, Funny

    Unfortunately this breakthrough doesn't apply to brains, so the Slashdot editors are screwed.

  22. Re:brains by mikataur · · Score: 1, Funny

    Blondes in glass houses shouldn't throw spelling examples.

  23. The cats are ecstatic... by pandrijeczko · · Score: 3, Funny

    Regenerating mouse = longer time to play with it before it dies and has to be eaten.

    --
    Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
  24. Re:Oversights by Daemonic · · Score: 5, Funny
    it sounds like a serendipitous discovery
    Indeed - they just suddenly noticed mice were regenerating. For all we know the mice evolved entirely on their own to overcome their environment of scientists poking holes in them all the time!

    Of course, now all future regenerating mice, and possibly all future regenerating people are going to have the genes of perhaps one single originator mouse....

    <chant>We believe in one mouse, the rejuvenator all mighty - progenitor of mankind on earth...</chant> Praise be to squeaky.

  25. OMG! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    They found the infinite lifes POKE for mice! I hope they didn't have to ram a Multiface up their arses...

  26. Re:unacceptable! by lisaparratt · · Score: 3, Funny

    I suspect the transsexuals will be the most aggravated!

  27. Re:unacceptable! by los+furtive · · Score: 5, Funny

    At first glance I would agree with you. However, I can envision an extreme (EXTREME!) surgery where the patiant was bombarded with hormones from the opposite sex, then had their genitals totally removed, with the hopes that genitals from the opposite sex would grow back naturally. Pretty freakin' crazy eh? Of course if you cut your lip during the healing process you may end up looking like this.

    --

    I'm a writer, a poet, a genius, I know it. I don't buy software, I grow it.

  28. Re:Credibility? by Fallus+Shempus · · Score: 1, Funny

    Something smells fishy to me.

    That'll be the side effect then
  29. And the good side is... by beh · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...regrowing hearts?

    Finally, I small hope for the Republicans... ;-)

    1. Re:And the good side is... by Entropy · · Score: 2, Funny

      Australiam scientists have created mice which can regenerate absolutely any tissue excpet for the tissues of the brain.

      But the Dems are still SOL ..

      --
      The sea changes color, but the sea does not change.
    2. Re:And the good side is... by eheldreth · · Score: 4, Funny

      To bad it does not work on brain tissue or there could be hope for the democrats to ;-)

      --
      The perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum. - O'Toole's Corollary
  30. What's a Jewish boy to do? by Circlotron · · Score: 1, Funny

    Staying circumcised would be problematical...

  31. Something I've wanted since visiting Pompeii by Morky · · Score: 2, Funny
  32. Think Highlander by tsetem · · Score: 3, Funny

    Surprised noone mentioned this before. But in the Highlander series, if you were immortal, you could no longer have children.

    Think about it, the Immortals cannot have children, they can heal from any wound, and they can only be killed by being beheaded.

    Maybe the lines between fact & fiction might be getting a little blurrier...

  33. Re:Karma by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Good point. Remember when we cured polio, and the next day, ZOOOOOOOMBIES!

  34. Re:Regeneration of english by rikkards · · Score: 2, Funny

    Isn't it a contradiction if the mice can regenerate any tissue "excpet" for the heart, lungs, entire limbs "you name it"?

    Note the period between brain and heart. Usually that means some sort of ending. In other words, the brain can't be regenerated but everything else can.

    Geez someone pissed in your corn flakes this morning

  35. Re:unacceptable! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I suspect cancer patients won't be too thrilled either. Remove the tumor, and it just grows back!

  36. You're confusing me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    I thought that the Democrats had the bleeding hearts.

  37. Are we going to get it for this? by dreemernj · · Score: 2, Funny

    I just can't avoid the nagging feeling that we will eventually be smoten for pulling crap like this...

    --
    1 (short ton / firkin) = 89.1432354 slugs / keg
  38. Re:Oversights by towaz · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wow my hamster has these regeneration powers too!...

    oh wait... :(

    --
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Voltaire
  39. A major milestone in rodent health by jbeaupre · · Score: 2, Funny

    Us humans are left with the crumbs from rodent health research. We've just about cured all disease, cancer, aging, and now trauma in mice and rats. How? Billions of dollars spent researching disease and testing cures on the little guys. Maybe Douglas Adams was right.

    --
    The world is made by those who show up for the job.
  40. Obligatory Aqua Teen Hunger Force quote by nighthawk127127 · · Score: 0, Funny

    "So is this gonna make my johnson bigger, or what?" - Master Shake

    --
    10100111001
  41. Re:Amoeba mice by FruFox · · Score: 2, Funny
    Yes, in a process know as "micetosis". :P :)

    But will it be long division? Or just a quickie?

    --
    Michael J. Bertrand, AKA Fruvous or FruFox My
  42. Srplinter vs. Shredder by dmauro · · Score: 2, Funny

    Man, Splinter is going to kick so much ass now.

  43. Great... by Greyfox · · Score: 4, Funny

    When humanity finally sinks into evolutionary obscurity we'll leave behind a legacy of near-immortal supermice! Perhaps that what was what the mice were after all along when they built the earth...

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  44. Bla, I was mistaken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    When I first read the title, I thought they finally have a fix for broken mouse. I broke so many mouse playing diablo II, I was about to rejoice for a self-healing mouse, alas there is no such thing yet.

  45. I was so shocked by this... by Call+Me+Black+Cloud · · Score: 2, Funny


    ...that I almost had a heart attack when I read it. Then I got to the part where it's not ready for humans, just mice, so I decided to wait on the heart attack.

  46. So much for the black market by Calimus · · Score: 2, Funny

    As soon as they get this into humans, my side business of stealing kidney's and selling them on the blak market is going to go strait down the drain.

    --
    Trying to be different, just like everyone else.
  47. High midi-chlorian count by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Have you heard the story of Darth Mausesis?

    He was so powerful in the dark side of the Force that he could create life! But one night his pupil Darth Serious shot him in the head and he died.

  48. ...say about evolution? You mean design. by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2, Funny

    You ignorant fool. This behavior is by Intelligent Design. One day soon, when the sun has warmed the costal rocks and the moist air carries the scent of lilac, our new regenerating, non scar-tissue forming reptile overlords will scramble across the sands and we will welcome them.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  49. Re:Chromosomes and such. by rbgaynor · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yes but heavy enough doses of female hormones in females can ALSO cause depression in men, so what's your point?

    --
    "Good things don't end with eum, they end with mania or teria." - H. Simpson
  50. Re:unacceptable! by Asmodean · · Score: 2, Funny

    God damnit! Just when we finally build the better mouse trap.. they built a better mouse!!

    --
    It's a good thing the world sucks or we'd all fall off.