2006-01-12

Little Green Pigs on the Wing

Just in time to be late for Christmas!

Ostensibly for stem cell research, scientists in Taiwan claim to have developed a green, phosphorescent pig. They aren't the first and they won't be the last. But, dammit, they've done it!

The pigs are transgenic, created by adding genetic material from jellyfish into a normal pig embryo. In daylight the pigs' eyes, teeth and trotters are a sickly yellow-green. Their skin has a greenish tinge. In the dark, shine a blacklight light on them and they glow torch-light bright. Great for raves!

Why have they done it?

The transgenic pigs will be used to study human disease. The pig's genetic material is easy to spot. It's freakin' green.

2 comments:

Stuart MacBride said...

Now, I heard some wag today claim that this has nothing to do with stem cell research, but that Green Pigs are natural result of Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog “gettin’ it on”.

This is nonsense. As an amphibian Kermit isn’t going to be overendowed in the ‘winky department’ and Piggy probably isn’t going to be able to lay her eggs in a pond for him to do his shameful business all over. So no kiddies. Unless they went for artificial insemination of course... Hmm...

Do you think that would be covered by their Disney medical insurance?

Jen Jordan said...

I somehow think that Disney's benefits would not have any provisions to cover any cross-species pro-creation.

Of course, cross-species pro-creation is the only explaination for what Goofy is.