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Scientists Produce Fearless Mice
Posted by
CowboyNeal
on Fri Nov 18, 2005 02:43 AM
from the no-cheese-is-safe dept.
from the no-cheese-is-safe dept.
Dotnaught writes "According to New Scientist, a Rutgers University geneticist has found that turning off a specific gene for the protein stathmin makes mice fearless. The story speculates that this research might improve treatment for phobias. It does not mention obvious military applications for the discovery. As noted in this Naval Officer's guide for managing fatigue, the use of amphetamines to stay alert, followed by sedatives to sleep, has a long tradition. Genetic treatments may offer an alternative to pharmaceuticals."
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My Vision of the Future (Score:5, Funny)
These mice escape and breed in the wild. Enormous of fearless mice terrorize the world's cat population. It's not going to be pretty.
Obligatory fearless mice joke... (Score:5, Funny)
The first one said, "When I see a mousetrap, I deliberately set it off, bench press the bar fifty times, then snack on the cheese."
The second one, not to be outdone, said, "Yeah? Well, every morning when I get out of bed, I stir in some cream and rat poison in my coffee. It gives me a good buzz that really wakes me up and gets me going."
They both look at the third mouse who, after a few seconds, gets up and says, "I don't have time for this bullshit. I've got to go home and fuck the cat."
Parent
Re:Obligatory fearless mice joke... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:My Vision of the Future (Score:5, Funny)
NIMH unavailable for comment.
Parent
Re:My Vision of the Future (Score:3, Funny)
No, fearless mice get eaten. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:My Vision of the Future (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Huh. (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:My Vision of the Future (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:My Vision of the Future (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:My Vision of the Future (Score:4, Funny)
Dude, that was Tom & Jerry.
Speaking of bizaare experiences...
Parent
Re:My Vision of the Future (Score:3, Funny)
They also have two cats. I tend to attribute all kinds of things to cats, and one of them is that they have a sense of what they're allowed to do and what not. I guess the cats figured that this bird was part of the household, and somebody would get very
Re:My Vision of the Future (Score:4, Funny)
That's what the cat told you, wasn't it?
Parent
Re:My Vision of the Future (Score:4, Interesting)
Parent
Good old PCP (Score:5, Insightful)
The non-military uses for such a treatment are pretty far-reaching. Would it be able to cure people that suffer anxiety attacks? Could children with night terrors be cured?
If the rats don't feel fear, do they also lose understanding of danger? That would be a pretty bad mutation.
Re:Good old PCP (Score:5, Insightful)
My first thought also. There are some situations where fear is an entirely appropriate response - lose it, and unwarranted risks may start to become a problem.
Parent
Re:Good old PCP (Score:3, Insightful)
Um, source?
From my experience, PCP would be a terrible thing to give soldiers. You'd end up with a Jacob's Ladder scenario where they become afraid of - and attack - friends and enemies at random.
Re:Good old PCP (Score:3, Informative)
Probably not unless overdosed. However PCP would still be utterly useless because it's a strong anesthetic, the soldiers would be just staring blankly and would have difficulties understanding even the most basic orders. You'd be better off giving them bottles of hard liquor.
Re:Good old PCP (Score:5, Funny)
Ask your doctor if PCP is right for you.
Parent
Re:Good old PCP (Score:3, Interesting)
Which Batman episode was that? (Score:3, Interesting)
That was awesome.
Like Red Baron (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Like Red Baron (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Military applications make me shiver... (Score:5, Insightful)
Seems alright, I quit military service a long time ago...
Regards
Stirz
Re:Military applications make me shiver... (Score:3, Insightful)
That's all you needed to say. There isn't two hands. Governments should butt the hell out and mind their own business.
Re:Military applications make me shiver... (Score:5, Insightful)
The only logic here is 'do what we say and don't question anything.'
Parent
Re:Military applications make me shiver... (Score:5, Insightful)
What do you mean, "even the Nazis"? A totalitarian government, emphasizing the military and denial of the individual, would be almost expected to do this. What is more scary, is that democracies, which we expect to respect and defend the rights of the individual, even to the point of restricting what the police and military can do, are chemically altering the bodies and minds of their soldiers.
Parent
There's already a fearless mouse (Score:3, Funny)
Now I'm Scared.. (Score:4, Funny)
AAAAAAAAAGGHHHH!
In other news..... (Score:5, Funny)
Are these mice really fearless... (Score:5, Insightful)
...or just plain stupid?
Anyone see Equilibrium? (Score:4, Funny)
Danger Mouse (Score:5, Funny)
He's The Greatest
He's The Greatest Secret Agent In The World!
He's The Ace - He's Amazing...
He's the Strongest... He's The Quickest.... He's The Best!
since when does being alert = fearless? (Score:5, Insightful)
fear is a good thing (Score:5, Insightful)
Fearless doesn't mean insane (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:fear is a good thing (Score:5, Insightful)
Fear is merely a mental shortcut. Instead of rationally arguing that doing something will lead to an unadvantageous situation, our brains merely automatically develop fears of the situation and we avoid it quasi-instinctually.
That said, if you were to completely remove fear without changing anything else, I do not doubt that shit would happen. Human beings are nowhere near as smart as they could be, and are probably not capable of thinking things out clearly enough. As it stands, we probably need mental crutches like fear until we are able to augment our intelligence.
But still, we should not imply that fear and desire are the only things capable of driving people. Fear is distinct from pain, desire is distinct from happiness.
Parent
laser mice... (Score:4, Funny)
Oh, never mind
Military applications ? (Score:5, Interesting)
That's because there is no military applications. You don't want the soldiers to become fearless, because if they do, they might say: "This war is wrong. I used to be too afraid to do anything about it, but now I suddenly feel fearless, and will get the heck away from here !" Basically, fearless soldiers will refuse to obey when given orders that they think are wrong, and cannot be forced to obey by fear of punishment.
What you want is soldiers that are more afraid of their commanding officers than the enemy; that way they'll follow orders.
Re:Military applications ? (Score:5, Insightful)
It is a bit of oversimplification. Soldiers can be motivated by things other than fear: the sense of friendship, pride, the feeling of responsibility and (misguided or not) patriotism. History is full with exapmles of people knowingly and willingly sacrificing their life for good of others, ranging from Spartans to Soviet atheists (neither of those could even hope for a decent afterlife: the void of Hades ain't much better than simple non-existance). I believe that in Iraq fights of today you could find such instances at both sides involved, too.
That said, your general argument remains valid. Humans for high command are mostly numbers, and are operated from statistical point of view. They would hate to rely solely for underlings' loyalty.
Parent
Re:Military applications ? (Score:3, Insightful)
I think we overlook how much fun it is to kill. It does satisfy a deep urging we have as animals. It's why people hunt, It's why children enjoy ripping legs off of grasshoppers, I knew a guy who used to buy mice and hit them with a golf club. There is a tremendous fun elemen
I for one.... (Score:5, Funny)
Why wouldn't they be fearless? (Score:3, Funny)
A fearless soldier is a crap soldier (Score:5, Funny)
USB (Score:5, Funny)
Can they do the opposite as well? (Score:3, Interesting)
I wonder if they can use this knowledge to do the opposite: turn fear way up? How might that be used & abused? Say around election time?
The idea is
These already exist (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Isn't fear important? (Score:3, Funny)
Been there, done that. We called it World War I
Re:oh lord! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Apologies in advance, but... (Score:3, Funny)
I, for one, welcome our new fearless rodent overlords. I'd like to remind them as a trusted Slashdot poster, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground cheese caves.