WATCH: Will Glow-In-The-Dark LOL Cats Cure AIDS?
We’re all desperate for an end to the AIDS pandemic, but the latest breathrough in the search for a cure sounds like its out of a bad science-fiction movie: Scientists at the Mayo Clinic claim they can pass along a protective gene that fights Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV)—essentially the feline version of AIDS—by splicing cells from a monkey that resists the disease—along with jellyfish protein that make it glow in the dark— into a feline embryo.
What’s the jellyfish nightcap for? It lets researchers know the transfer worked: If kitty glows in the dark, we have a winner! Right now the Mayo Clinic reports that in their initial findings, the cats with the protective genes are doing well—and producing offspring with the same genes.
We knew we were cat people for a good reason.
Video via ABC 7
This kitty is right here in my home town?
whee.
I want one!!!!
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Cats are stealthy night hunters. Glowing in the dark defeats this ability. Science doesn’t care about cats.
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They only “glow” under a black light, not all the time; so unless a kitty hunts in a night club, he/she has no worry about his/her stealth.
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I want my Cat to glow in the dark, fuck off PETA.
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@Kev C: How very moral absolutist… I think that making the cats resistant to feline AIDS, but making them glow under a blacklight (also known as not harming them at all) is perfectly fine. Especially if it could save millions of lives (which, over a period of time, it could).
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@The Bony Man: Yeah sure. When was the last time bioengineering produced anything beneficial except making money? I bet this will fail and will all be in vain, as usual. And I’ll bet that I will win this bet.
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Many of you are missing the point: the glow-in-the-dark aspect is almost just like injecting dyes into one’s blood stream in order to find aneurysms. Also, the glow-in-the-dark “dye” is a naturally occurring agent found in the jellyfish induced into the cat embryo. This is a remarkable contribution to find a cure for HIV/AIDS.
And Kev C. if you are truly sincere, then you MUST give up ALL medical treatments for ALL aspects in your life — there are no treatments that are not based on reengineering some other part of nature and science — NONE (otherwise your body would fix every problem, injury, disease, condition).
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@Mike in Asheville: Arsenic, belladonna and snake venom also occur naturally. And some can be used as medicine. Hey, remember the stem cell debates of the 1990′s? Science promised so many cures if they were allowed to use stem cells. To date, only one use has been found, and of course, it’s incredibly expensive.
Genetic engineering hasn’t produced any new cures. It has produced ways of developing existing medicines (“pharming”). And it’s produced a lot of ethical problems and shady practices.
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@PilateError: “They only “glow” under a black light, not all the time; so unless a kitty hunts in a night club, he/she has no worry about his/her stealth.”
hahahaha
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Kev C has gone around the bend again, I see. When has bio-science produced anything beneficial besides money? You’re not thinking well, hon. Get off of the interwebz and crack a book.
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Kev… Science is not instantaneous. It does take time and quite a lot of trial and error. People always bitchin, wanting their instant gratification with a smile and a yes sir. (thats mostly tongue in cheek lol. that last part anyway)
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Imagine how coll it would be to have a yard full of those glowing cats for Halloween!
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This is goddamn amazing! I love science! Where can I get one of these glow in the dark cats?