Nature Blog Network Future Earth: And Pigs might Fluoresce...

Tuesday 15 January 2008

And Pigs might Fluoresce...

Those “glow in the dark” plastic toys falling out of cereal packets are sooooo last year. Look forward instead to livening the murky winter mornings with glowing green bacon on your breakfast plate.

It would appear that scientists in Taiwan have succeeded in combining genetic material from jellyfish and pigs and produced 3 piglets that fluoresce from the inside - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4605202.stm

Worrying or amusing? Not lighting up my alarm buttons. I’m not yet trotting off to complain about this genetic manipulation. Increasing demand for pigs in China with the burgeoning economy is a greater threat, as it puts more pressure on land around the world to produce cereal crops to grow the pigs in the first place. And that primary productivity is our limiting factor. Might become a delicacy though as those who can afford the luxury compete for novelty (all pigs being equal but some being more equal than others).

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