Slog
News & ArtsTuesday, November 30, 2010
Science Spider Goats and Other Genetically-Engineered Nightmares
Posted by Mary Traverse on Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 11:15 AM
- SPIDER GOAT! Not what it really looks like.
Huffington Post has this slide show of genetically engineered creations, and I just have two words for you: SPIDER GOATS!
I knew about the glow-in-the-dark cats, and some of the other things aren't that weird or surprising and are mostly very cool, but SPIDER GOATS?!
Strong, flexible spider silk is one of the most valuable materials in nature, and it could be used to make an array of products — from artificial ligaments to parachute cords — if we could just produce it on a commercial scale. In 2000, Nexia Biotechnologies announced it had the answer: a goat that produced spiders’ web protein in its milk.Researchers inserted a spiders’ dragline silk gene into the goats’ DNA in such a way that the goats would make the silk protein only in their milk. This “silk milk” could then be used to manufacture a web-like material called Biosteel.
SPIDER GOATS! AGGGHHHHHH!
2
Spider-goat, spider goat,
does whatever a spider goat does.
Can he swing from a web?
No, he can't; he's a goat.
LOOK OUUUUUUT!
He is a spider-goat.
does whatever a spider goat does.
Can he swing from a web?
No, he can't; he's a goat.
LOOK OUUUUUUT!
He is a spider-goat.
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