Pootertoot
07-19-2002, 07:50 AM
<A HREF=http://www.msnbc.com/news/782312.asp>AAAAAAAAAAH!!!</A>
WASHINGTON, July 18 - Adding an extra version of a single gene makes mice grow big brains - brains so large they have to fold up, much as human brains do, to fit inside the skull, researchers said Thursday.
IT IS NOT yet clear whether the mice are smarter - they were all killed soon after birth - but the scientists said they were surprised that one gene had such a strong effect and said they would do further experiments.
"I know the most interesting question was whether they learned to play Mozart but we don't know," Dr. Christopher Walsh of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, who led the study, said in a telephone interview.
"A bigger brain is not always good," he added, pointing out that a condition called megacephaly, in which the cerebral cortex grows too large, can cause mental retardation.
Walsh and colleague Anjen Chenn started with a protein called beta-catenin, which helps control cell division.
"It is expressed in the brain in such a way that made us think it could be a regulatory switch that makes cells stop dividing ... and become a neuron," Walsh said. "Because neurons don't divide, that has to happen for a cell to become a neuron."
Unlike cells in other tissues of the body, neurons stop dividing and become fully formed before birth.
So Walsh and Chenn genetically engineered mice, adding extra beta-catenin that would become overactive specifically in brain tissue.
JESUS CHRIST! Have they never seen Pinky and the Brain!??! That's a single mouse, coming breathtakingly close to ruling he world...imagine an army of these bastards, wearing rubber pants, throwing cars at us with their giant minds!!!
Oh, and what if they're giant brained retarded mice, like the article alludes to? Imagine the size of the mouseholes once these mice get out, using their herculian strength to pilfer cheese...and god forbid they see something shiny, we're doomed!
All I have to say is...they killed the mice after birth...what were they hiding?
And...did one escape..........?
<center><embed src="http://www.geocities.com/slfcallednowhere/mario2.swf" width=300 height=100><br>
Take a Chance, Take a Chance
</center>
This message was edited by Pootertoot on 7-19-02 @ 12:15 PM
WASHINGTON, July 18 - Adding an extra version of a single gene makes mice grow big brains - brains so large they have to fold up, much as human brains do, to fit inside the skull, researchers said Thursday.
IT IS NOT yet clear whether the mice are smarter - they were all killed soon after birth - but the scientists said they were surprised that one gene had such a strong effect and said they would do further experiments.
"I know the most interesting question was whether they learned to play Mozart but we don't know," Dr. Christopher Walsh of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, who led the study, said in a telephone interview.
"A bigger brain is not always good," he added, pointing out that a condition called megacephaly, in which the cerebral cortex grows too large, can cause mental retardation.
Walsh and colleague Anjen Chenn started with a protein called beta-catenin, which helps control cell division.
"It is expressed in the brain in such a way that made us think it could be a regulatory switch that makes cells stop dividing ... and become a neuron," Walsh said. "Because neurons don't divide, that has to happen for a cell to become a neuron."
Unlike cells in other tissues of the body, neurons stop dividing and become fully formed before birth.
So Walsh and Chenn genetically engineered mice, adding extra beta-catenin that would become overactive specifically in brain tissue.
JESUS CHRIST! Have they never seen Pinky and the Brain!??! That's a single mouse, coming breathtakingly close to ruling he world...imagine an army of these bastards, wearing rubber pants, throwing cars at us with their giant minds!!!
Oh, and what if they're giant brained retarded mice, like the article alludes to? Imagine the size of the mouseholes once these mice get out, using their herculian strength to pilfer cheese...and god forbid they see something shiny, we're doomed!
All I have to say is...they killed the mice after birth...what were they hiding?
And...did one escape..........?
<center><embed src="http://www.geocities.com/slfcallednowhere/mario2.swf" width=300 height=100><br>
Take a Chance, Take a Chance
</center>
This message was edited by Pootertoot on 7-19-02 @ 12:15 PM