Engineered evolution

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Singing Rodent

Scientists from the University of Osaka have created a mouse that tweets like a bird. The scientists have created this genetically engineered rodent to study the evolution that gave birth to human language.

The project titled, ‘Evolve Mouse Project’ produced a singing mouse. In the process the genetically modified mice were prone to mutations due to miscopied DNA. According to the scientists mutations are a driving force in evolution. The newly born mouse was healthy and sang in a bird-like noise, and though the trait is due to its mutation it will pass down to its future generations.

This research would lead to an evolution different from what the mouse would turn out to be after a few years and also help us understand how we learned to talk through this study.

