Transparent Frogs to Eliminate Need For Dissection
It would seem that Japan has decided to be a little more transparent with some of their scientific experiments.
Scientists at Hiroshima University’s Institute for Amphibian Biology in Hiroshima, western Japan, have bred transparent frogs whose organs can be seen through their skin.
The lead researcher Masayuki Sumida, says researchers produced the creature from rare mutants of the Japanese brown frog, or Rena japonica.
“You can see through the skin how organs grow, how cancer starts and develops. The researcher can observe how toxins affect bones, livers and other organs at lower costs. You can watch organs of the same frog over its entire life as you don’t have to dissect it.†— Professor Sumida
Reducing the number of dissections in schools will eliminate a lot of controversy from animal rights groups concerned with humane treatment of laboratory animals. It will also save schools money on the purchase of frogs to dissect.
The researchers also say that by fusing the genes of fluorescent proteins to the frog’s genes, they can create frogs that glow. Supposedly they would be able to see exactly when a cancer begins to develop as the frogs will actually begin to glow in the dark.
I can’t imagine any genetic engineering being on the horizon to breed transparent dogs or cats. However, I bet lots of parents wish those hamsters and gerbils that occasionally get loose would glow in the dark.
Professor Sumida may start a side line product by producing glow-in-the-dark “little pets†to pay for his research.
(link)
By Super Sied on 24-05-2008
Comment by darkwing duck
May 24th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
No need to cut them for the frog dissection,
wtf
Thank god she can’t eat me!
Comment by Allen
May 25th, 2008 at 3:09 am
that’s cool and disgusting at the same time…
Comment by Belle
May 26th, 2008 at 5:47 am
what! that takes all the fun out of science class
Comment by hana
May 28th, 2008 at 11:42 am
what are the little balls you see through the skin??
Comment by Anon
December 18th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
too bad they didn't have that when I went to school
Comment by Trish
March 3rd, 2010 at 8:41 am
The very first thing I ever dissected was an owl pellet (the skin and bones from some poor furry creature that an owl will regurgitate after eating them) in middle school. Other than that, I have also dissected earthworms (big ones), frogs, and fetal pigs. Dissecting them wasn't that bad, it was the smell (formaldehyde). The usual high school science class only get up to the pigs, but the more advanced Bio (probably AP) and also the optional Anatomy class got into things like sheep brains, fish heads, eyeballs (either sheep or cow)… You could also tell when it was dissection time because the entire Science would reek of formaldehyde for at least as long as the dissections went on. It was worse when the lucky class was dissecting fish heads. Fish AND formaldehyde. Yuck. You were very unlucky to have science period when dissection came up before or after lunch.
Comment by Trish
March 3rd, 2010 at 8:42 am
" because the entire Science would"
better make that "entire Science hall"