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Chemical Cocktail Turns Mice Clear
sciencehabit writes "Researchers have serendipitously discovered that a mixture of urea, glycerol, and soap makes membranes transparent. When they tried the mixture on a developing mouse fetus, they found that it removed all of the pigment from the cells, rendering the fetus completely transparent. The technique allowed scientists to see fluorescent neurons buried several millimeters in the brain."
I already see the next requirement from TSA..
Steinbeck's "Of Invisible Mice and Men".
make imaginary.friends COUNT=100 VISIBLE=false
<n/t>
I found prior art!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kakweRCSd_s&feature=player_detailpage#t=87s
.
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
http://www.milk.com/wall-o-shame/polytron.html
"The deep-fried Mars bar is a symptom of a wider crisis." -- Nutritionist Ann Ralph, on the Scottish diet
Is it me or is this the literal idea of the original HG Wells Invisible Man?
This is pretty much the whole plot of H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man.
Phew! For a moment there, when they said "Chemical Cocktail Turns Mice Clear" I thought they meant clear as in e-meter/thetan/Scientology clear.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
...I don't see what all the fuss is about.
Probably exactly like a Gummi bear.
If the squirrels get a hold of this, there will be no stopping their agents now.
Only a matter of time.
Not useful on living beings. Awwe too bad.. would have made a great Halloween Costume choice.. provided it could be reversed in short order. Women want men to be transparent.. Right ? If were useful for the Living.. I wonder how this might change Medical science .. surgery , Nero Science and such ?
It must be terribly Toxic.
I'm just gonna come out and say it.
Science is horrible
DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
Researchers serendipitously discovered that a mixture of urea, glycerol, and soap
I'm guessing this discovery was the result of someone taking a shower after some kind of urine-related lab prank...
Paul "TBBle" Hampson
Paul.Hampson@Pobox.Com
Adding soap will hardly make those subsequent experiments looking at neurons physiological.
I seem to recall some prior art in this subject.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
Eaten alive by invisible rats.
Science is about making horrible dreams a reality.
Kevin Bacon did it 11 years ago. To a gorilla. And then himself.
It's people!
First stop, the girls' shower room for a "deposit", second stop, the bank for a "withdraw."
Take the Red Pill.
some of the researchers mysteriously disappear.
I know a few chemical cocktails that can make people THINK they're invisible. And bulletproof.
do() || do_not();
Let me get this straight. It is lethal to living beings but makes them completely "clear".
I do believe this would solve a number of issues with Scientology. Adherents could become a "Clear" and achieve oneness with the great L. Ron all at once!
Xenu is quaking in his boots at the though.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Scientist #1: We're having problems observing these neurons! Blasted plain optics!
Scientist #2: If only there were some way to make the mouse embryo transparent!
Bear Grylls: Soak it in piss! *gulp*
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Makes one wonder if there is a less toxic way to attain the same effect? Definitely an ice breaker at parties! On the flip side, adding this concoction to embalming fluid would almost certainly make for exciting funerals!!!
Turning mice clear isn't really that impressive.
All it takes is a four or five vodkas with cranberry juice to make everything unclear.
And the cranberry juice is optional, unless you happen to suffer from a mild urinary tract infection, in which case I highly recommend it.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Yes, but no more so than a pro-lifer.
Clear mice should seriously freak my cat out. Load her up on cat nip first and she'll think it's a really bad trip.
And what wrath have these foolhardy researchers brought upon this planet should these beings become unhappy with their new appearance?
Have gnu, will travel.
We did this in college, to fish.
[End Of Line]
But can they do this with aluminum??
Huh?
How this "cocktail" came about.... ......
Urea...urine....check
glycerol....personal lubricant....check
soap.....hmmm.....check
Mmm.. yum yum yum
is the same reason why an ASIC or Microprocessor is enclosed in a black package: because light harms or interrupts both electronic logic gates and bio-neurological receptor pathways.
Any creature born transparent if not melanistically leucistic then they would probably have all kinds of degenerative neural diseases or mental balancing issues between the left and right brain-phenomena.
Did anybody else think this when they read the title?
Which will we have first:
Invisiblity cloak
-or-
The invisible man
Invisible pr0n is no fun... well, at least not for most people.
C|N>K
do the embryos live? any toxicity? do newborn mice still retain the transparency? how about if you wait till they become adults?
- That we turn ourselves invisible and take over the world?
- EXACTLY
I understand the value of experimenting on mice and other animals. But that's the benefit, that gets weighed against the cost.
Where is the limit to what we can do to an animal before it is unacceptably cruel? Against which no actual benefit can justify the cruelty? How does it feel to be as mutated as these transparent mice would be if they survived gestation? If they survive past the point where there are functioning nerve networks to feel how it is, how cruel is that?
--
make install -not war
Notice they didnt do this on a living embryo.
Also anything that sells for $1.49 each as live snake food at a pet store apparently does not rate too highly on the
"concern about cruelty" scale. If the process caused them pain then yes it would be too cruel to use but
simply turning them transparent is probably not the worst thing that would happen to a lab mouse.
How does it feel to be a transparent animal? Ask a jellyfish. As long as they dont have to live
with other regular mice I dont see they would notice the difference.
everybody's copying Apple, this time with translucent mice.
Given the science at the time, Welles in The Invisible Man, had the unfortunate scientist tackle invisibility via the alteration of pigments, rather than futzing around with wavelengths.
Oh, you meant see-through. Here I thought you meant that they found a way to make mice Clear (tm) without paying Scientology tens of thousands of dollars....
mark
We have pigment for a reason, presumably, so a fully developed animal would not survive direct sunlight?
Of course, a baby mouse would have fur, as well. Still, probably a really messed up looking mouse.
If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
Micro$oft says they have finally found a way to render mouse pointers visible, to be implemented in time for the release of Windows 9.
Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
I thought they'd figured out a way to turn mice into Scientologists. As if mice weren't annoying enough as it is.
How did they find this formula? Did one of the researchers piss in a bottle of liquid soap?