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| Science & Technology |
| Scientists create mouse that sings like bird |
| 2010-12-22 |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #3 SQUIRREL!!! |
| Posted by: Adriane 2010-12-22 22:35 |
| #2 Yes a dog that could talk and understand (More than they already do) Would be a godsend for handicapped folks, Gives a whole new meaning to "Helper dog" Think of a blind person's guide dog Saying, "Watch it there's a step Up here" Or 911 yes, "Help my owner has collapsed" Im all for it, would end animal cruelty when Fido can testify. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2010-12-22 18:46 |
| #1 Mammals and some other animals share a "speech and language" gene called FOXP2, which is also important for "modulating plasticity of neural circuits." Especially learning complex speech patterns such as birdsong. But humans have an almost unique version of FOXP2, a mutation that is believed to do several things important to the use of speech to communicate, which may be a major reason that most of us no longer live in caves, unless Reaper UAVs are searching for us. Likely this was a mutation of the mouse's FOXP2. In past, scientists briefly put the human version into a mouse embryo, producing "chatty" mice with a greater vocal range than normal mice. But this was too dramatic for them, so they killed the mice and went on to other things. I'm dying to see what would happen if they put the human version into dogs. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-12-22 10:06 |