Mighty Mouse or the Brain?
This
story gives a peak at a article that's going to be published in this Friday's
Science. Keep your eyes out for it-though I suspect that nothing more exciting will come out of it than what the reporters are already blabbing about.
Here are some interesting quotes:
It is not yet clear whether the mice are smarter -- they were all killed soon after birth -- but the scientists said they were surprised that one gene had such a strong effect and said they would do further experiments.
....
"A bigger brain is not always good," he added, pointing out that a condition called megacephaly, in which the cerebral cortex grows too large, can cause mental retardation.
If I was a betting man-I'd assume the mice were going to be more like
Pinky rather than
The Brain. But who knows? The key is that the scientists were surprised-that does happen.
I'm not going to trumpet this as the next big step toward genetic engineering-experimenting with human fetuses to see if they can develop more "advanced" neocortexes is unfeasible at this point (I personally have little qualms about experiments on 1st trimester fetuses)-
even if the mice do turn out to be rather intelligent.
But, further experiments will occur with the mice, and
what if if the mice are brainy? What will be the implications of enhancing animal intelligence? What would you do if your dog told you that you stank when you came back from the game of tennis or tried to seduce you with sweet nothings while humping your leg?
Hmm.