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South Korean Scientists Create Glowing Dog
cultiv8 writes "A research team from Seoul National University (SNU) said the genetically modified female beagle has been found to glow fluorescent green under ultraviolet light if given a doxycycline antibiotic. The researchers, who completed a two-year test, said the ability to glow can be turned on or off by adding a drug to the dog's food. 'The creation of Tegon opens new horizons since the gene injected to make the dog glow can be substituted with genes that trigger fatal human diseases,' the news agency quoted lead researcher Lee Byeong-chun as saying. He said the dog was created using the somatic cell nuclear transfer technology that the university team used to make the world's first cloned dog, Snuppy, in 2005."
Who's (modified for the article) punchline is.
"Hey, I'm a programmer, I don't have time for a princess, but hey, a glowing dog, now that's cool"
If you lose the dog in the dark, you can quickly find it with your portable ultraviolet torch. Err.. maybe not that useful I guess.
George Clinton's Atomic Dog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuyS9M8T03A
The best thing about a boolean is even if you are wrong, you are only off by a bit.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/5354635/Scientists-create-glowing-dog
'The creation of Tegon opens new horizons since the gene injected to make the dog glow can be substituted with genes that trigger fatal human diseases,'
Now, just substitute "can be" with "will be"...
1 - create glowing dog
2- ???
3- Profit !
let the paranoia begin. ...
Gives the term "crowd controll" a whole new meaning
Ok this was a proof-of-concept experiment to make a transgenic dog using Dox-inducible expression. It might be useful for some stuff since dogs are a genetic model for some human diseases but still not THAT cool... What I am REALLY looking forward to is someone doing a homologous replacement of Tbx5 with Tbx4 in chickens (pehaps by using zinc finger nucleases). This would most likely change the development of the wings to front-legs. A four-legged chichken - THAT would be cool. When that proof-of concept experiment would be done we could do the same for a number of other birds - ostriches for example (would be neat riding beasts)... and with some proper breeding we might even be able to generate something similar to dinosaurs :P
Yum yum!
While I don't mean to belittle the work done by these scientists, I want to point out a common mistake used in science journalism - referring to GFP as "glowing". It does not glow, in any sense of the word. It fluoresces, which means you need to shine blue or UV light on it and examine it through a filter that removes the incident light, and then it will appear green. It can appear quite amazing under those conditions, but you can't take this dog out for a walk at night and see it emitting green light. You won't even see it reflecting green light, unless you take him near a UV source.
There is a biological technique that does cause things to glow, but it's more complicated than a single protein so is not as commonly used as GFP.
"A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
"the gene injected to make the dog glow can be substituted with genes that trigger fatal human diseases"
Now why the hell would anyone want to do that?
Pics of the cute little sucker - both in the dark and in daylight:
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/south-korean-scientists-create-glowing-dog-report-20110728-1i0wi.html
+1 Troll. Nearly had me.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Why would Koreans want to eat glowing food?
According to Nietsche, God is dead since at least 1882, which means that the source code is in public domain even by the standards of Disney. Sorry, no bonus.
[Feeding a troll? Sure, the bigger a piece, the better, more chance of choking!]
This is Slashdot. Common sense is futile. You will be modded down.
Just make sure there are UV filters on the lights in the restaurant. That would really put me off my dinner. :o)
Imagine a burglar who comes to your house. A pitbull growling in the dark - that's already pretty scary. A glowing growling pitbull, that's super-scary.
And then ate him...
I like how they always say "could lead to a cure for Alzheimer's" every time they use genetic engineering to do a nerdy prank. There is need or market demand for glowing dogs, no problem being solved or cost reduced. Sooner or later someone's going to let the DNA loose and nature is going to get hurt.
Gently reply
The gene that causes the dog to glow under ultraviolet light when a certain food is given to it, can have the gene replaced with one dogs and humans share. This can help test gene therapy to help cure these genetic disorders.
The mutation is just reflecting an external UV light. It would be much cooler if it could actually *generate* light. Imagine a dog that could glow like a glow worm.
Are they not closer to human physiology ... or is that just BS so nobody feels bad about the god-awful things they do to pigs in the name of science/medecine? But then Korea has a bit of a hate-on for dogs so it makes sense.
"Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.
people who do research on household pets. I consider my dog to be part of my family and when I hear of asshole scientists doing research on what would otherwise be someone's pet it really pisses me off. There is no reason for that or any dog to glow or have any other "modification". This just backs up my observation that most of these people are a$$holes.
"We are just a war away from Amerikastan. When god vs god the undoing of man." Dave Mustaine
I have the impression playing with nature is stupid. Those researches should go find themselves first. The submit themselves to the cause of science. They can be the subject of their experiments.
I think we would see better progress being made.
Why this news? Dog is born puppy, then you feed it and it glowing. Keep feed it and it keep glowing until all glow up.
... but will it blend?
It's ALIVE! [insane cackle]
While this is serious science, there's a whiff of mad science about it. If this were my project, I'd dine out at science fiction conventions for the rest of my life on this.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
The way that's written, my first thought was using dogs as bioweapons. I doubt that's really the case, so what do they really mean by this?
They're not destroying the Earth. They're just Genetically Engineering with Extreme Prejudice.
Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
Great! Now I don't have to pick my dog up, break it in half, and shake.
Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
I imagine this is so all you need is a portable uv light with you to test whether or not your food is authentic dog or rip off cat meat.
I chuckled. Good show.
My kingdom for modpoints!
So what? My cat can produce spots on the carpet that glow under a fluorescent UV light. I suppose if we had a dog, the cat could pee on the dog and make it glow too. But you don't see cats running of to publish stuff in journals; they have too much important napping and paw-licking to do instead.
+1 mildly racist.
Mr. President, we *must* develop our own glowing dog before the North Koreans develop this technology too.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I understand that if humans ingest enough carrots a similar effect can be produced.
Glad I could help.
You guys are all missing the point! This isn't about cute dogs; this technology can one day be used to help humans.
Because who doesn't want a girl that glows up green in the dark when you shine a blacklight on her.
Corporate sponsorships. Yep, ads on animals, e.g. flashing on green sea turtles. And a talking chimp.
The late Michael Crichton already wrote about it in Next.
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
Takes the fun out of hunting for your food.
What's next? Kittens that grown into the shape of glass jars?
Wasn't there an episode of The Big Bang Theory where Sheldon creates bio-luminescent goldfish to use as living nightlights?
I said glow in the dark mosquitos not beagles.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
You resisted the urge to make a "try the special of the day" remark. +1
Atlas Shrugged : Thematic Story
The opening dialog of Zhasu's intro in The Lion King, addressed to Scar was, "Didn't your mother teach you not to play with your food?". Looks like we could ask the Korean scientists the same thing.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
This could turn out to be an energy saving breakthrough. Just imagine the annual energy savings from being able to dramatically reduce lighting levels in restaurants.
Now we can see dinner delivery coming at night.
I swear this story sounds familiar...
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
Perhaps I'm in too much of a mad scientist mindset, but the summary sounded to me like they were making practice runs for an injectable kill switch for humans. "Mr. Bond, I've altered your DNA, making the serum I hold in my hand a deadly poison only to you." Better yet, if the villain has read his evil overlord list, he'd just tell Bond that the serum is a poison, and modify his minions' DNA so the same serum activates their soldier boosts. Watch and laugh as Bond tries to kill his guards with it, only to make them stronger.
You have to really trust your geneticist if you're going in for recombinant DNA therapy...
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
(first thing I thought of after seeing this)
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
All we need is a marsh, an escaped convict, some crazy englishmen, and a drug-using detective.
Add some UV night lights and strap a small barrel of rum to the collar: You won't trip over the dog anymore and you can easily find you liquor.
Scorpions are already UV fluorescent but are a real pain to train. Dogs are much safer to hold and pet.
Dog nightlights - a billion dollar idea! Shhhhh...
The real question is - how does it taste?
Ha ha. I know. Bad Korean Joke. :D But given that I know of Korean-Americans whose Korean-national relatives DO still eat dogs, and consider it to be a delicacy, - - it IS teh FUNNY!
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
at least they won't have to worry about eating in the dark if the power goes out.
It's an amazingly useful protein for scientific research... Because of its research utility it's become a ubiquitous tool for molecular and cell biology. Indeed, in October of 2008 Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie, and Roger Y. Tsien were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their brilliant contributions to our modern scientific use of GFP, with The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences calling GFP a "guiding star" and likening its research development to the invention of the microscope.
The article didn't answer the most important question:
How does it taste?
how did they keep the scientists from eating the dog?
What could go wrong with this?
surely not starting the zombie invasion.
Be seeing you...
Information at the Morgellons Research Foundation website will change your life. This is already pandemic. The CDC and the U.S. Military will NOT release the results of their study. Morgellons has been reported in every country except Iceland. It affects humans of all ages and domestic animals. If I wanted to flouresce I would wear make-up. GMO foods , vaccines and other GMO meds are killing teh population with Rh positive blood types.