South Korea Engineers Glow Dogs

[Freakzilla]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090428/ap_ ... loned_dogs

SKorean experts claim to have cloned glowing dogs

By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer Hyung-jin Kim, Associated Press Writer – Tue Apr 28, 10:27 am ET

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korean scientists say they have engineered four beagles that glow red using cloning techniques that could help develop cures for human diseases.

The four dogs, all named "Ruppy" — a combination of the words "ruby" and "puppy" — look like typical beagles by daylight. But they glow red under ultraviolet light, and the dogs' nails and abdomens, which have thin skins, look red even to the naked eye.

Seoul National University professor Lee Byeong-chun, head of the research team, called them the world's first transgenic dogs carrying fluorescent genes, an achievement that goes beyond just the glowing novelty.

"What's significant in this work is not the dogs expressing red colors but that we planted genes into them," Lee told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

His team identified the dogs as clones of a cell donor through DNA tests and earlier this month introduced the achievement in a paper on the Web site of the journal "Genesis."

Scientists in the U.S., Japan and in Europe previously have cloned fluorescent mice and pigs, but this would be the first time dogs with modified genes have been cloned successfully, Lee said.

He said his team took skin cells from a beagle, inserted fluorescent genes into them and put them into eggs before implanting them into the womb of a surrogate mother, a local mixed breed.

Six female beagles were born in December 2007 through a cloning with a gene that produces a red fluorescent protein that make them glow, he said. Two died, but the four others survived.

The glowing dogs show that it is possible to successfully insert genes with a specific trait, which could lead to implanting other, non-fluorescent genes that could help treat specific diseases, Lee said.

The scientist said his team has started to implant human disease-related genes in the course of dog cloning, saying that will help them find new treatments for genetic diseases such as Parkinson's. He refused to provide further details, saying the research was still under way.

A South Korean scientist who created glowing cats in 2007 based on a similar cloning technique said that Lee's puppies are genuine clones, saying he had seen them and had read about them in the journal.

"We can appraise this is a step forward" toward finding cures for human diseases, said veterinary professor Kong Il-keun at South Korea's Gyeongsang National University. "What is important now is on what specific diseases (Lee's team) will focus on."

Lee was a key aide to disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk, whose breakthroughs on stem cell research were found to have been made using faked data. Independent tests, however, later proved the team's dog cloning was genuine.

[SandRider]

gots to get me some of them .....

cain't tell you how many damn beagles I done lost at night
in the woods huntin coons....

[Omphalos]

I think you have to bend them in half then shake them before they glow.

[SandChigger]

And then ya gots ta toss them.

Like midgets.

Yeah....


(Why are there two threads of this news? )

[Rakis]

I can see the next thing after tattoos and piercings : Glowing implants under the skins...

[SandRider]

I've seen alot of UV plastic nipple-piercings in tittie bars recently.
Neat effect, reminds me of the early 70s somehow when the blacklights first showed up,
and the girls would use UV body paint.

I understand they make UV ink for tattoos that are invisible in normal light;
one kid was telling me about somebody getting batwings on his face ....

Rakis could very well be on to something - worth looking into, get ahead
of the trend - something else for tat parlors to offer. AToE, what do you think ?

[Rakis]

I've seen alot of UV plastic nipple-piercings in tittie bars recently.
Neat effect, reminds me of the early 70s somehow when the blacklights first showed up,
and the girls would use UV body paint.

I understand they make UV ink for tattoos that are invisible in normal light;
one kid was telling me about somebody getting batwings on his face ....

Rakis could very well be on to something - worth looking into, get ahead
of the trend - something else for tat parlors to offer. AToE, what do you think ?

I'm willing to share the copyright...let's call it the Texan lumineux...

[A Thing of Eternity]

I've seen alot of UV plastic nipple-piercings in tittie bars recently.
Neat effect, reminds me of the early 70s somehow when the blacklights first showed up,
and the girls would use UV body paint.

I understand they make UV ink for tattoos that are invisible in normal light;
one kid was telling me about somebody getting batwings on his face ....

Rakis could very well be on to something - worth looking into, get ahead
of the trend - something else for tat parlors to offer. AToE, what do you think ?

The UV ink is almost invisible in normal light, you can see it if you look closely though. I know a few people who have it. There is also ink that literally glows in the dark, but it is totally visible in reg light, and might be carcinogenic (more so than regular ink).

As for the glowing implants, I actually had that idea years ago, but it would be LEDs implanted under the skin, powered by a pacemaker battery. My idea was that you would get 2 different colours implanted, and then it would fade between the two in time with your heart rate. To conserve power, there would also be two implanted switches (button style), that would have to be pressed at once (to prevent accidental turning on and off, they would be spaced as far appart as is reasonable) to turn the whole thing on and off.

Coolest fucking idea ever or what?

[Rakis]

I've seen alot of UV plastic nipple-piercings in tittie bars recently.
Neat effect, reminds me of the early 70s somehow when the blacklights first showed up,
and the girls would use UV body paint.

I understand they make UV ink for tattoos that are invisible in normal light;
one kid was telling me about somebody getting batwings on his face ....

Rakis could very well be on to something - worth looking into, get ahead
of the trend - something else for tat parlors to offer. AToE, what do you think ?

The UV ink is almost invisible in normal light, you can see it if you look closely though. I know a few people who have it. There is also ink that literally glows in the dark, but it is totally visible in reg light, and might be carcinogenic (more so than regular ink).

As for the glowing implants, I actually had that idea years ago, but it would be LEDs implanted under the skin, powered by a pacemaker battery. My idea was that you would get 2 different colours implanted, and then it would fade between the two in time with your heart rate. To conserve power, there would also be two implanted switches (button style), that would have to be pressed at once (to prevent accidental turning on and off, they would be spaced as far appart as is reasonable) to turn the whole thing on and off.

Coolest fucking idea ever or what?

Sounds a bit Borg-ish...

I like it a lot...

Add a digital clock and an MP3 connection and there's millions to be made...

[A Thing of Eternity]

I've seen alot of UV plastic nipple-piercings in tittie bars recently.
Neat effect, reminds me of the early 70s somehow when the blacklights first showed up,
and the girls would use UV body paint.

I understand they make UV ink for tattoos that are invisible in normal light;
one kid was telling me about somebody getting batwings on his face ....

Rakis could very well be on to something - worth looking into, get ahead
of the trend - something else for tat parlors to offer. AToE, what do you think ?

The UV ink is almost invisible in normal light, you can see it if you look closely though. I know a few people who have it. There is also ink that literally glows in the dark, but it is totally visible in reg light, and might be carcinogenic (more so than regular ink).

As for the glowing implants, I actually had that idea years ago, but it would be LEDs implanted under the skin, powered by a pacemaker battery. My idea was that you would get 2 different colours implanted, and then it would fade between the two in time with your heart rate. To conserve power, there would also be two implanted switches (button style), that would have to be pressed at once (to prevent accidental turning on and off, they would be spaced as far appart as is reasonable) to turn the whole thing on and off.

Coolest fucking idea ever or what?

Sounds a bit Borg-ish...

I like it a lot...

Add a digital clock and an MP3 connection and there's millions to be made...

Hmmmmm...

[Omphalos]

don't for get the cup holders.

How much longer before we have designed a chair dog?

[Rakis]

How much longer before we have designed a chair dog?

Not before we settle some ethical issues first...

Is there any real description in the books as to what it is really made of?

[Rakis]

the chairdogs in the Consentiency universe seem much more sentient than those from the Duniverse. is a dog used as furniture any different than a dog used as a pet, if it enjoys its role in giving comfort to the owner?

Hmmm...good point...I guess you would still have laws protecting them...

Who made the chairdogs in Dune? IX? The Tlelaxu?

[SadisticCynic]

Chairdogs are biological so presumably the Bene Tleilax engineered them. I guess Ix and the Tleilaxu should have teamed up more often and perhaps we would have some mention of the above ideas (skin mp3 players etc).

[Rakis]

Chairdogs are biological so presumably the Bene Tleilax engineered them. I guess Ix and the Tleilaxu should have teamed up more often and perhaps we would have some mention of the above ideas (skin mp3 players etc).

It does sound kewl...

Skin MP3 player...Time to touch yourself for another pleasure...

[Omphalos]

How much longer before we have designed a chair dog?

Not before we settle some ethical issues first...

Is there any real description in the books as to what it is really made of?

I pulled some quotes off once for a response to some question on another board. Here is what I found. It seems they actually are engineered dogs.

They were alive, alright. I remember one scene where Darwi (I think it was her) had to settle the dog she was sitting in. Or maybe it was Teg. I can't be sure, its been so long since I read those last two books.

OK. I went and checked. It was Taraza:

Taraza sat back and waited for the chairdog to adjust itself to the new
position. She rested her clasped hands on the tabletop and looked up at the
younger woman.

And Teg did not like them:

Teg's dislike of chairdogs and other living furniture was well known.

And whatever they look like, the fit themselves to you:

Taraza took her own drink to a chairdog opposite him, a fluffy white bit of animate furniture that fitted itself to her with the ease of long familiarity.

All the above quotes are from Heretics. In Chapterhouse Bellonda has one too:

At the corner table near the windows reserved for her, she deliberately moved the chairs. Bell's brown chairdog pulsed faintly at this unaccustomed disturbance.

They could also make noise:

"What?" Bellonda whirled in her chairdog, causing it to squeak with indignation.

And apparently they still ate:

Chairdogs required sustenance and expensive staff.

So I guess that they took the occasional dump, no?

I always imagined them more bean-bag-ish than this:

[GamePlayer]

A chairdog? That is a really interesting idea. Gotta love Herbert.

[Omphalos]

A chairdog? That is a really interesting idea. Gotta love Herbert.

I always thought that if Geiger did the Dune movies he would have a great place to start off with the chair dogs, and their existence would lend some credence to his vision of static items infused with biological appearances.

[SandChigger]

I always imagined them more bean-bag-ish

Me, too.

No fricking way I would ever sit on something that looked like that thing in the illustration. Sheesh.

[Freakzilla]

Didn't Bellonda's chairdog groan when she sat in it? I think she took some sadistic pleasure in it, too.

[SandChigger]

Yeah, that was quoted above: "What?" Bellonda whirled in her chairdog, causing it to squeak with indignation.

Sat on the chairdoggy and made it cry... I can understand that motivation. You see a cute puppy (or puppy-like thing?) and just want to sit on it or reach out and fetch it a healthy smack.

[GamePlayer]

Issues!

[Omphalos]

Puppies!