Glowin' for Science

Posted by Alex in Animal, Pictures, Science & Tech on May 14, 2009 at 12:53 pm


Since Osamu Shimomura discovered Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) in jellyfish back in the 1960s (his work earned him the 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry along with Martin Chalfie and Roger Tsien), the science of biology has never been the same. Since then, this incredibly useful tool (I even used it in my dissertation way back when) has found its way to transgenic pigs, dogs, and even cats.

NatGeo News has a nifty photo gallery of the various "glowing" animals – some of which crossed the line from science into commerce (the fluorescent GloFish). This one above is the GFP Rhesus Macaque Monkey, used to study Huntington’s disease by researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta.

Link – Thanks Marilyn!


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8 comments to "Glowin' for Science"

  1. Gauldar
    May 14th, 2009 at 12:57 pm

    Wonder how long it's going to take before people build their own genetics lab so they can create their own glow kids.

  2. X-Calibre
    May 14th, 2009 at 3:01 pm

    This article refers to a scorpion as an insect. Good thing its not National Geographic, oh . . . wait nevermind :P

  3. Alex
    May 14th, 2009 at 3:47 pm

    I've always referred to all of them as critters or bugs to avoid errors. ;)

  4. jenjen
    May 14th, 2009 at 6:37 pm

    If only we could engineer glowing after they're born. All sex offenders could be made to glow in the dark so they can't sneak up on you.

  5. Justin
    May 14th, 2009 at 9:09 pm

    X-Calibre, in the author's defense, his next paragraph refers to them as arachnids.

    Also I don't know if there is anything else behind him saying insects because he is not referring to modern day scorpions but an ancestor of them. Maybe they were technically classified as insects. I'm not sure though, google wasn't very helpful on this.

  6. seefish3
    May 14th, 2009 at 9:16 pm

    Y'know, I've heard all the arguments and have certainly reaped the benefits of this kind of research in my lifetime, but deliberately infecting other ANYTHINGS with toxins or diseases still makes me feel like crap.

  7. Ajan
    May 16th, 2009 at 3:18 am

    Let them do it for humans, and we'll have HULK(s)

  8. xultar
    May 16th, 2009 at 5:32 pm

    so, what is the reason for this? I wanna see some glowing kids.


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