On Many Subjects

Getting inspriation for my blog proved to be problematic today. I normally scour other blog entries, articles or YouTube to find something interesting to report, but today, all I found was an entry by Bill Maher that irritated me when he compared breast-feeding to masturbation. That wasn't funny in my opinon and because about 80 zillion people have chimed in on that subject, there is no need for me to add my two cents worth.

The only other interesting tidbit that has the news-world all a-flutter is the creation of a transparent frog.

(dramatic pause)

That's right, a TRANSPARENT FROG. A frog with see-through skin.

Although I realize that the frog, as a decorating motif or cute avatar has it place, for the most part, frogs are mindless canabalistic eating machines (Why do you think their mouths are so big?) I am not generally impressed with anything froggy as a former blog post will attest, because frogs are, in a word, gross.

But here is a picture of this stranger than strange creature that will be used, it is said, for medical research. What a way to spend your life, growing up in a laboratory and being stared all the time. At least the scientists won't have to cut little froggy open to see what's inside.

...the transparent frog is the result of breeding two specimens of Japanese brown frog (Rana japonica) that had a genetic mutation giving them pale skin. By selectively breeding their offspring, the researchers were able to create a frog that remains transparent for its entire life cycle. Most of the world’s known transparent creatures live underwater, and transparent four-legged animals are extremely rare.

Now that we have cleared that up, there is more froggy news. Scientists have created frogs that glow.

In a process called transgenesis, Grainger and other members of his lab have genetically engineered the tropicalis species to endow the normally mud-colored animals with glow-in-the-dark green body parts. For example, to create frogs with green eyes that glow...(followed by boring technical genetic gobbledegook)

Somehow I think this creature would be a lot more fun to have hanging around your laboratory.

And on the human side of that coin, my guess is anyone who is a researcher and makes it their life's work to figure out how to make a frog glow is a totally geeky individual whose socks rarely match.