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Japan's Unique Cow/Whale Hybrid Experiments

RemyBR writes "Controversial scientific research happens all the time, but a review conducted by scientists in Japan uncovered a list of 'bizarre' trials - including one program designed to crossbreed cows with whales.'Scientists have analyzed 43 research papers produced by Japan over 18 years, finding most were useless or esoteric. The scientific research included injecting minke whale sperm into cows eggs, and attempts to produce test-tube whale babies.'"

42 of 348 comments (clear)

  1. Love It or Hate It? by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Funny

    I really am torn on these experiments, I mean I could seriously question the motive and nature:

    Of all the animals you had to pick from you went with cows and whales? Cows and wales? What's next? Sloths and sea sponges? You had the chance to go Island of Doctor Moreau and you tried to recreate a manatee (hello? already exists!) instead of ... oh I don't know ... hybridizing wolverines and great white sharks?

    On the other hand, I could also defend it with other logic, just as solid:

    I don't see anything wrong with it. It was all a matter of time before this happened naturally anyways. Interspecies mating happens all the time between donkeys and horses resulting in a mule or hinny. Occasionally squash and pumpkin plants cross fertilize. It's common. Really, it was only a matter of time before a heard of cattle near the ocean resulted in a particularly rowdy bull wandering into the Ross Sea or Pacific Ocean to jump the bones of a minke whale thus creating a hybrid. Who knows, maybe these would be as useful as mules are? I'm sure the poor of third world countries could use another pack animal--now for oceanic voyages!

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    1. Re:Love It or Hate It? by shawn(at)fsu · · Score: 2, Funny

      What's next? Sloths and sea sponges?
      I think it's going to be a pig-elephant.

      (I clicked no karma bonus as it's a pretty weak joke)

      --
      500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
    2. Re:Love It or Hate It? by MrNaz · · Score: 5, Funny

      *Mumbles something about welcoming new cowhale overlords*
      *Gets modded to the depths of hell*
      *Swears*

      --
      I hate printers.
    3. Re:Love It or Hate It? by master_p · · Score: 3, Funny

      Of all the animals you had to pick from you went with cows and whales? Cows and wales? What's next? Sloths and sea sponges?
      Sharks and bulls, apparently...with freaking lasers mounted between their horns.
    4. Re:Love It or Hate It? by TobyRush · · Score: 5, Funny

      It was all a matter of time before this happened naturally anyways.

      No kidding! In fact, when I read the headline my first thought is that these guys were experimenting with ways to put a stop to the rampant cow/whale breeding that has been taking place in cities like mine. It's really transformed my neighborhood in such a way that I'm no longer comfortable letting my kids play out front, at least not unsupervised.

      --
      Sam! If you will let me be,
      I will try them.
      You will see.
    5. Re:Love It or Hate It? by Brian+Gordon · · Score: 3, Funny

      All I want is sharks with lasers mounted on their heads. Is that so much to ask?

    6. Re:Love It or Hate It? by ArcherB · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think it's going to be a pig-elephant. Maybe, but that really wouldn't take the work of Japanese scientists. All you need is a pot-bellied pig, an elephant, lots of alcohol, and some Isaac Hayes music.

      However, it will probably end up that a closeted gay, balding school teacher did all the "real" work. Even then, what good will it be if only has one ass?
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    7. Re:Love It or Hate It? by The+End+Of+Days · · Score: 5, Funny

      Dolphins aren't fish, they just taste the same.

    8. Re:Love It or Hate It? by Drooling+Iguana · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's an avian spy! Get 'im!

      --
      ... I'm addicted to placebos
    9. Re:Love It or Hate It? by Ashbory · · Score: 2, Funny

      forget the elephant. I wanna see a man-bear-pig!

    10. Re:Love It or Hate It? by VorpalRodent · · Score: 5, Funny

      Unfortunately, early attempts to mate lasers with sharks have proven unsuccessful. All the sharks either died or were rendered infertile as a result of the acts.

      Attempts to directly fertilize a shark egg with a laser resulted in the immediate destruction of the ovum.

      Perhaps someday science will answer this question, but for today, we must still dream.

      --
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    11. Re:Love It or Hate It? by LurkerXXX · · Score: 3, Funny

      It makes sense to me. I think if you throw a cow in an ocean, there is going to be a LOT of selective pressure to make some changes.

    12. Re:Love It or Hate It? by bickerdyke · · Score: 4, Funny

      Dolphins are just gay sharks!

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      bickerdyke
  2. As Paris Hilton would say... by Izabael_DaJinn · · Score: 4, Funny
    "The scientific research included injecting minke whale sperm into cows eggs, and attempts to produce test-tube whale babies.'"

    That's hot!

    --
    Careful What You Wish For....
  3. (clerks) by everphilski · · Score: 2, Funny

    Whales with teets that put mine to shame

    1. Re:(clerks) by The+Fun+Guy · · Score: 3, Funny

      Mom?

      --
      The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain
  4. Isn't this how Cloverfield started? by xmuskrat · · Score: 5, Funny

    It looked like a cow whale to me.

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    activestudios web design
    1. Re:Isn't this how Cloverfield started? by starglider29a · · Score: 3, Funny

      My first thought was "Cow Pie!!!"
      My second is having them stationed in Lake Michigan off Wisconsin, to supply the Wisconsin Whale Cheese industry
      My third is a bunch of divers having to get up for the 4am milking!

  5. man o' tee by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 3, Funny

    Silly Japanese. Don't they know we already have sea cows?

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    This guy's the limit!
    1. Re:man o' tee by ArcherB · · Score: 2, Funny

      Silly Japanese. Don't they know we already have sea cows? Maybe they want their own version of Family Guy.

      --
      There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
  6. It sounds funny now, but... by Subm · · Score: 2, Funny

    It sounds funny now, but wait until the giant flying lizard starts fighting the giant flying turtle. By that point, not even the giant robot with the missiles shooting from its fingers can save Tokyo.

  7. Pff. by FlyingSquidStudios · · Score: 5, Funny

    God, schmod. I want my whalecow.

  8. DASTARDLY JAPANESE!! by explosivejared · · Score: 3, Funny

    Can't you see the obvious advantages of having a large cow-whale reserve. The Japanese wanted to produce an army of cow-whales that would have a superhuman... er... supercow ability to produce milk. With an inflated milk reserve, they could crash the US market... a veritable economic Pearl Harbor. THANK GOD THE INTELLIGENCE DIDN'T FAIL THIS TIME!!

    --
    I got a catholic block.
    1. Re:DASTARDLY JAPANESE!! by genericpoweruser · · Score: 2, Funny

      The Debian team has already come up with a solution to that threat. Apt has super cow powers! Zing!

      --
      A fool and his lamb are worth two in the bush.
  9. Half bear Half pig by Grokmoo · · Score: 5, Funny

    I am ok with them pursuing this line of research, as long as they don't try something truly dangerous, like a half bear, half pig. Or worse, a half man, half bear, half pig. Now that would be trouble.

  10. related research by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Funny

    -quantifying the mouthfeel of whale flesh on a scale of carnivorous appeal
    -how to use less fossil fuels in the preparation of whale meat to abide by the kyoto protocol
    -classifying whale meat's umami taste factor
    -topological descriptions of various folding models in the preparation of whale meat sushi

    most of the scientific papers associated with this vastly important field of scientific research have concluded some amazing scientific findings, samples of the papers' conclusions:

    "om nom nom nom nom nom..."

    "BURP"

    "pass the sapporo, onegai shimasu"

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  11. Japan's research on Whales is like my research on by MrSteveSD · · Score: 3, Funny

    M&Ms

  12. Re:This sounds like a twisted subplot to an anime. by Surt · · Score: 5, Funny

    Seriously. YUCK! What gets IN to these people?


    I'm thinking it's the whale sperm.

    --
    "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
  13. Japan's response... by AutopsyReport · · Score: 4, Funny

    Don't have a cow, man!

    --

    For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.

  14. Re:female whales = cows by JustOK · · Score: 3, Funny

    but rarely to their face

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    rewriting history since 2109
  15. Hardly unique by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 3, Funny

    Japan has been at the forefront of cat/girl technology for *tears*.

    1. Re:Hardly unique by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hey, don't cry over spilled... that's not milk... DAMN YOU JAPAN!

  16. Re:Where's the beef? by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 3, Funny

    It would be very small because a cow with no legs but a huge tail would starve on land

    Nonsense. That is why there are people. To make and feed cows with no legs and a huge tail.

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  17. Thank Effing God I Have Lived To See These Days by BigBlueOx · · Score: 2, Funny

    At long, long last we have whale-cows. And Hallmark greeting card stereos. And pigs that glow under UV light. And iPhones.

  18. Has this not already been done in the U.S.?? by Berserker76 · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...or how else would you explain Rosie O'Donnell??

  19. The Far Side by EdIII · · Score: 2, Funny

    Anybody else visualizing a Far Side comic with 2 whale-cows and a farmer?

  20. Re:It's worse, it makes it (sound) xenophobic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    "Imagine a bukkake in the dark, where each shot glows a different colour"

    Pass.

  21. Re:It's worse, it makes it (sound) xenophobic by flyingsquid · · Score: 2, Funny
    1. Western companies routinely pay for dubious research that pushes their own agenda. Probably more rabbits and rats smoked tobacco because of tobacco companies trying to prove that smoking is harmless, than because of all other research combined.

    No, those rabbits and rats smoked those cigarettes because they thought it would make them look cool. Plus, you know, peer pressure. The guinea pigs were all smoking, and they were the "in" crowd among lab animals, so the rest of the rodents were just trying to fit in.

  22. Re:Yeah, right. by MadMidnightBomber · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think you meant:

    1. Stale Meme, plus
    2. "I know I'm going to be modded down."
    3. Profit!!

    PS. self-referential post FTW!

    --
    "It doesn't cost enough, and it makes too much sense."
  23. Re:This sounds like a twisted subplot to an anime. by Alsee · · Score: 2, Funny

    The Japanese are seriously taking that bukake thing way too far.

    -

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    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  24. Re:It's worse, it makes it (sound) xenophobic by Moraelin · · Score: 4, Funny

    Do you have any idea how medical research works? You can't ethically use humans, so you find a model organism and hope it's close enough that your results apply to humans. I can't say that that research is good, but there's nothing inherently wrong with that kind of experimental design.


    Actually, I do have some idea. And yes, I could also tell you what was the purpose of each of the western experiments I listed.

    The point wasn't that Western research is all silly. The point is that you can make anything sound silly, or outright deranged, if you quote selected bits out of context, apply some heavy-handed spin to it, and do it for an audience that's more interested in validating their own xenophobic delusions than in critically thinking about that experiment.
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  25. Re:It's worse, it makes it (sound) xenophobic by barry99705 · · Score: 2, Funny

    300 pound Whoppers.