It’s Unnatural

In the news:

Ten piglets born this year in a laboratory in China look like normal piglets when the lights are on, but in the dark, they glow florescent green thanks to a genetic alteration that incorporates a protein transferred from jellyfish DNA.

I see where this is going. We’ll soon have pork barbeque that glows green in the dark. There’s no reason scientists can’t also modify a wheat plant’s DNA to make flour glow red. Then we could have glowing green barbeque on a glowing red bun – a sandwich both tasty and Christmas-y.

More to the point, does anyone not think it’s just a matter of time before some researcher uses bird DNA to create pigs with wings? Then we won’t be able to say, “When pigs fly!” any more.

Scientists may use DNA swapping to create fish that taste like chicken or chicken that tastes like chateaubriand. And with sufficient research dollars, scientists may one day create a soybean-burger that tastes like food instead of cardboard. Just kidding – that last one will never happen. It’s too big a leap. But all that other stuff is possible.

The news article goes on to say:

Glowing animals have been developed in laboratories since the 1980s… In April of this year scientists in Uruguay created a flock of glow-in-the-dark sheep. Other experiments done around the world have produced glowing monkeys, puppies and kittens.

I’m just getting accustomed to compact fluorescent light bulbs. Please don’t tell Congress there are glow-in-the-dark monkeys. There’s no telling what those noodle-heads will make us light our homes with next.