In November 2005, an article appeared in the Newark Star Ledger announcing the fact that at a Rutgers laboratory in Piscataway, New Jersey, a new breed of mouse was being created. As usual in these situations, this new mouse is not being bred to stay out of human habitations, garbage cans or empty urban lots. It is not even being bred to help combat some terrible disease. No, these mice are being bred to be FEARLESS.
It was not enough for this group of scientists to discover a gene for fear, but they also had to ‘tweak” this gene in the aforementioned mice, creating rodents who “crave open spaces and have an appetite for adventure.”
Those of you who have been keeping track of these things with me should feel just as much concern as I do. First of all, who knows what kind of natural balance is going to be upset by turning mice into aggressors. Cats of the world will suddenly have the tables turned on them. The sure-fire insult, “what are you, a man or a mouse?” will no longer be effective. And the book, “The Mouse That Roared” may have to be rewritten about real mice taking over the United States.
Those of you who have not been following these things with me will probably think, but these are lab mice, being kept in laboratories, under lab conditions. Of course, the bubonic plague-infected mice that somehow escaped or were “miscounted” at that lab in Newark were being kept “safe” too. For all we know, they have spread bubonic plague to half the rodents in Newark by now. Let’s not forget the record-breaking rat who eluded capture on a small island for months, despite scientists trying to recapture it using a radio collar, tracking dogs and various tricks and traps. That rat broke all records by leading the scientists on a merry chase over almost a mile of open ocean as it swam to a different island.
If these mice do get loose in New Jersey, it may be just part of the experiment. According to the Star Ledger article, these brave mice will help the scientists “better understand” why people feel fear.
I think I can assure those scientists that knowing that there are adventure seeking mice, bubonic rodents, and Olympic swimmer rats out there, is enough to strike fear in any human -- especially when you read that part of the experiment was call "Foot Shock Sensitivity." Subjecting a smart, brave, strong rodent to something like that is asking for trouble. I'm keepin my shoes on.
Read all about it here: The Star-Ledger and Rutgers Research Highlights: A Gene for the Fear Factor and here: ScienceDirect - Cell : stathmin, a Gene Enriched in the Amygdala, Controls Both Learned and Innate Fear
