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Here There Be Dragons

ThisNukes4u writes "The Economist reports that scientists in California are coming closer to creating real-life mythical animals. Basically, they re-create the natural selection process through a computer simulation and then clone the resulting set of DNA in a donor animal." From the article: "Each computer starts with a search image (dragon, unicorn, gryphon, etc), and the genome of the real animal most closely resembling it (a lizard for the dragon, a horse for the unicorn and, most taxingly, the spliced genomes of a lion and an eagle for the gryphon). The virtual genomes of these real animals are then tweaked by random electronic mutations. When they have matured, the virtual adults most closely resembling the targets are picked and cross-bred, while the others are culled."

3 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy MOD ME UP!! by DAldredge · · Score: 0, Troll

    The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy
    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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    The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy

    The main characters, from left to right: Billy, Grim, and Mandy.
    Genre Animated television series
    Running time 22 minutes approx.
    Creator(s) Maxwell Atoms
    Starring Richard Steven Horvitz
    Grey DeLisle
    Greg Eagles
    Vanessa Marshall
    Jane Carr
    Rachael MacFarlane
    Jennifer Hale
    Dee Bradley Baker
    Phil LaMarr
    Maxwell Atoms
    Diedrich Bader
    Country of origin United States
    Original network/channel Cartoon Network
    Original run August 24, 2001 - Present
    Total no. of episodes 67
    Official website
    IMDb profile
    TV.com summary

    The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, created by Maxwell Atoms, is an American animated television series that currently airs on Cartoon Network. It is rated TV-Y7-FV. The two main characters, Billy and Mandy, have obliged the Grim Reaper to be their best friend forever after having won a bet over a sick hamster.

    The show's existence is largely the result of a viewer poll. An Internet and call-in event, called the Big Pick was held from August 24 to August 25 in 2000. The three final choices were The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Whatever Happened to Robot Jones?, and Longhair and Doubledome. Out of the three, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy won. The first season appeared on Cartoon Network in 2001. Robot Jones would later be made into a full series despite losing; Longhair and Doubledome would reappear with another pilot episode in another Big Pick-style show later on, only to fall short once again.

    Originally labelled Grim and Evil, the series was a combination of two shows in one. In each show, a segment of Evil Con Carne was put between two Grim cartoons. In 2003, the network decided to give each short its own full length show. Evil Con Carne was subsequently cancelled. It re-aired in a late-night slot in the United States on Friday, August 5, 2005 with the newly-created intro and end credits. Characters from Evil Con Carne have still appeared on The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, realizing that they're not supposed to be there. For example, when the whole town is in jail due to an evil duck, Hector Con Carne from Evil Con Carne is there and yells, "I'm not even supposed to be on this stupid show anymore!"

  2. Lame Day by ImaNihilist · · Score: 0, Troll

    April Fool's day is the stupidest thing ever created. I'm going to work all day tomorrow, because it seems like the entire internet is just going to "shut down" for this garbage. Pft.

  3. i sowed wings on my cat, +5 INSIGHTFUL PLEASE! by joevai · · Score: 0, Troll

    I sowed some wings I took off a pigeon on to my cat - nice quick and easy mythological creature, screw all that genetic engineering stuff!

    True genius - +5 Insightful please mr. mod!