If you haven’t heard, Korean scientists have just cloned cats which can glow under ultraviolet light. By inserting a gene coding for a red fluorescent protein, RFP in science lingo, these proteins exist in the fur of the modified cats and emit red light when exposed to UV wavelengths. RFPs are commonly used in all sorts of experiments, because they are easy to insert and attach to specific cell components - in fact, much of what we know about how cells work was figured out by attaching RFPs to certain components of cells (e.g. vacuoles, microtubules, DNA transcription inhibitors) and then watching the glowing bits under a microscope.

Anyways, I think it’s incredible that someone has been able to successfully manipulate a cat genome like this, as their DNA is both very complex and very similar to humans’. For this reason, the ability to modify it will surely have huge dividends when it comes to developing gene therapies that will surely improve the lives of millions of people. However, creating glowing cats was fucking dumb. Many people in the world today are freaked out by genetic manipulations and “frankenscience”, some of it probably justified. Making something as cute and revered as a kitten GLOW, the stereotypic mutant thing to do, seems like an awful public relations idea. Don’t get me wrong - I think this is a great breakthrough, and I’m sure the involved scientists did as well, which is why they didn’t think about how the public would receive their experiment. However, the “public” is still pretty worried about modern genetic modifications, and the involved parties are doing a terrible job of explaining what they are doing and why. Considering that few people understand what happens when organisms are being manipulated, I really want to see a concerted campaign by academics and industry to explain the benefits of their work. Lets get talking about cancer, paralysis, and feeding the world - not freaking people out with glowing kittens.