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Deleting Certain Gene Makes Mice Smarter

Posted by Soulskill on from the break-out-the-ribonucleic-scissors dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Deleting a certain gene in mice can make them smarter by unlocking a mysterious region of the brain considered to be relatively inflexible, scientists at Emory University School of Medicine have found. Mice with a disabled RGS14 gene are able to remember objects they'd explored and learn to navigate mazes better than regular mice, suggesting that RGS14's presence limits some forms of learning and memory."

11 of 259 comments (clear)

  1. Cool, it's like Intel Upgrade Service for a brain. by mr_mischief · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can haz turnkey upgrade for 50$?

  2. Yeah! by SigILL · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, let's make lab mice smarter! What could possibly go wrong?

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    Error: password can't contain reverse spelling of ancient Chinese emperor
    1. Re:Yeah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Narf!

    2. Re:Yeah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Are you thinking what i'm thinking?

  3. Re:Whats the odds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Now the mice have the knowledge to alter human brains and speed up the calculation of the question to life, the universe and everything.

  4. Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I used to watch a documentary about this as a kid. Apparently this causes 50% of the mice to turn incredibly stupid, while the other 50% want to take over the world.

  5. Makes mice smarter you say... by Universum · · Score: 2, Funny

    One is a genius
    The other's insane.
    They're laboratory mice
    Their genes have been spliced
    They're dinky
    They're Pinky and The Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain
    Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain
    Brain.

  6. Turns out by antifoidulus · · Score: 4, Funny

    thats the gene responsible for creating sex drive. Without worrying about sex the mice can concentrate on solving mazes. The Seinfeld hypothesis is right(well for mice anyway, if it were right for humans I would be the smartest man on the planet :P)

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    Monstar L
  7. Re:Whats the odds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    It's FORTY-FUCKING-TWO

    One after another or all at the same time?

  8. Re:Cool, it's like Intel Upgrade Service for a bra by derGoldstein · · Score: 2, Funny

    Bras have no genome. The line did not compute, and therefor was ignored by the parser. Your parser is either set to "verbose", or "display all warnings".

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    Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
  9. Re:Cool, it's like Intel Upgrade Service for a bra by Compaqt · · Score: 2, Funny

    10 FOR X = 0 TO 65535
    20 POKE X, 0
    30 NEXT X

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