I am sure everyone remembers their Zoology labs for one thing... dissection of frogs. I remember mine and how I detested the very act of cutting those poor souls. And then we had to pin them up for inspection. The smell of formaldehyde still lingers...ugh!
Maybe.. kids will not have to do that anymore.... The Japanese as usual let their gray matter to do some work... the See Through Frogs
September 28, 2007—For high school students everywhere, this revealing amphibian may be a cut above regular frogs.
That's because the see-through frog does not require dissection to see its organs, blood vessels, and eggs.
Masayuki Sumida, a professor at the Institute for Amphibian Biology at Japan's Hiroshima University, bred the frog to be a humane learning tool.
"You can watch organs of the same frog over its entire life, as you don't have to dissect it," Sumida told the news agency Agence France-Presse. The scientist announced his research last week at an academic meeting.
Dissecting animals for science has sparked controversies worldwide, even prompting some companies to create computer simulations as cruelty-free alternatives.
Researchers bred the sheer creature—a type of Japanese brown frog—for two recessive genes that make it pale.
Though not yet patented, the frog is the first four-legged, see-through animal to be bred by scientists. Some fish species are also clear.
Only 1 in 16 frogs end up see-through, and Sumida's team has not yet figured out how to pass on the transparent trait to offspring.
I read that story few days ago. Though not a Bio student myself but i have seen many of dissection as the lab was on way to our classes. I have also seen people vomit after seeing people dissect the animals there. its good that these technology will help reducing killing of frogs!!
ReplyDeleteEven I am not a bio student but Physics.. but we had to dissect them in school..
ReplyDeletewell well - the purpose of dissection is not just to see the innards, but to possibly prepare you for medical school, get over ur inhibitions and to train use of hands for delicate purposes...unfortunately frogs were the only ones available i guess..
ReplyDeleteseeing a great 3D movie or through a frog wont help you get all that experience!!
on the other hand, kerala used to export thousands of frogs to france as food!!
and no wonder most of us dont opt for medicine... one dissection in school is enough!
ReplyDeleteappreciate the nerve of the doctors.. it does takes much to become one!