Scientists achieve what we’ve all been waiting for: Singing mice

Chris Spags Founder and Editor

Sure, you could cure cancer or AIDS or find a renewable food resource or replacement for gas. Or, you could do like a team of Japanese scientists and make a SINGING MOUSE. Of course, it’s Japan.

fievel 224x214 Scientists achieve what weve all been waiting for: Singing mice According to the AFP, Japanese scientists created a mouse that tweets like a bird through a series of genetically engineered evolutionary tactics.

The research, conducted at the University of Osaka, was part of something called the “Evolved Mouse Project,” with a goal of simulating evolution through genetic engineering. Or recreating the childhood classic movie “An American Tail”. Perhaps both.

“Mutations are the driving force of evolution. We have cross-bred the genetically modified mice for generations to see what would happen,” lead researcher Arikuni Uchimura told AFP.

“We checked the newly born mice one by one… One day we found a mouse that was singing like a bird,” he said, noting that the “singing mouse” was born by chance but that the trait will be passed on to future generations.

“I was surprised because I had been expecting mice that are different in physical shape,” he said by telephone, adding that in fact the project had also produced “a mouse with short limbs and a tail like a dachshund”.

Well, if movies have taught me anything, these scientists’ successful attempts at playing God will quickly spiral out of control, unleashing a horde of man-sized flesh-eating mice who gleefully sing as they eat your intestines. And there’s probably one scientist who heard this first little mouse sing and thought, “We’ve gone too far.” But no one listened. WHY DIDN’T THEY LISTEN??!?! OH THE HUMANITY.

Japan bio-scientists produce ‘singing mouse’ [AFP]
Scientists Breed Singing Mouse [Gawker]

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