Posted on July 14, 2008 - Total Views 60647
Back in 1997, a rather bizarre photograph suddenly became very famous. It showed a totally hairless mouse, with what appeared to be a human ear growing out of its back. That photograph prompted a wave of protest against genetic engineering, which continues today. But there was absolutely no genetic engineering involved in getting that ear to cover almost all of the mouse’s back.
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1997 Wikipedia |
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Tags : 1997 • Bizarre Photograph • Genetic Engineering • Human Ear • Protest
August 25th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
This was the cover image of a Nature magazine that year. There WAS genetic engineering involved in making the ear. As I remember it, the mouse had been implanted with a tumor of human cartilage and a form had been placed over the back so that the tumor would grow into the shape of an ear. While the mouse wasn’t genetically engineered to make a human ear, the production of the cartilage tumor cells involved genetic engineering. What we have here is a semantic issue, and what you mean to say is that the mouse was not genetically engineered. Genetic engineering was howver employed to achieve this striking image.
August 26th, 2008 at 5:33 am
They had to grow the tumor in that shape, as there’s no way of justifying that without faking things.
August 26th, 2008 at 6:52 am
This photo was featured in the current events section of my 1996 yearbook (that was given out in May, 1996), so I think it’s a little earlier than that.
August 26th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Photoshopped! I see pixels!
August 27th, 2008 at 2:46 am
typical american
August 27th, 2008 at 7:17 am
He’s a typical American just because he made a joke about something that looks a bit ridiculous? And more than just Americans say stuff like that.
On another note, why would they bother doing this? Just to say that they could?
August 27th, 2008 at 9:57 am
I agree with Aussi.
August 28th, 2008 at 3:33 am
They did it to show us what they could do in the future. Imagine the possibilities: Growing an extra limb, regeneration, etc.
August 28th, 2008 at 10:41 am
An EAR??…what a waste… if it were a ***** i’d hit it
August 28th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
This was shown on Nip/Tuck as well. They used it to attach an ear where one was bitten off or something. Pretty interesting
August 29th, 2008 at 8:39 am
hmmmmm……
bisa ya …. bisa juga tidak
tapi…. setelah saya lakukan pembesaran make fasilitas yang terdapat pada opera 9.3 900% zoom
sepertinya gambar ini adalah sebuah gambar yang direkayasa deh.
Coba perhatikan dengan detail……
Bagus…bagus……….
boleh juga…….
August 29th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Tor = typical troller
August 30th, 2008 at 5:29 am
i will kill you, strange mouse!
August 30th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
that’s not a mouse, it’s a hairless rat
August 30th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
i wonder what comes out if they put an *** into a mouse’s ****?
August 31st, 2008 at 3:13 pm
a peek behind the scenes of the local prophylactic factory….
September 1st, 2008 at 3:46 am
amazing…………….
maybe it should have human nose too
September 1st, 2008 at 2:03 pm
[...] Mouse with Human Ear [...]
September 1st, 2008 at 4:19 pm
why the hell do people do this? We shouldn’t be messing around with nature this way.
September 1st, 2008 at 9:36 pm
They did it so that it could maybe help people who had ears ripped off or something in the future! Not just to say “Oh, look! I can grow an ear on a mouse!” No! It was for scientific reasons to help people in the future! Why don’t people seem to get this??
September 1st, 2008 at 11:07 pm
oh look, they can grow an ear on a mouse!
September 1st, 2008 at 11:08 pm
oh shit, my ear just got ripped off!
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:43 am
maybe they can sew that mouse on your face….
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:51 am
This looks disgusting.
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:29 pm
why is his lips like that?
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:09 am
Poor little guy.
Hey idiots - stop wasting my internet.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:02 am
[...] The ability to put human ears on mice. [...]
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Can you hear me now?
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:51 pm
hello? hahahaha helo hello? haha hello hahahahaha hello hello?
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
WHAT?!?!?!?
WHAT YOU SAY?!?!?!?
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:55 pm
…….very terrible…..haha
September 4th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
acaba duyomudur:)
September 4th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
well Ill be a rats ***!
September 5th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
wonder they can put ******?
September 6th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
“Research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Werner von Braun
September 8th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Fascinating, points to new lifesaving technnology, and scary / bizzare all at the same time
September 9th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
shhhh, that mouse will hear you!
September 18th, 2008 at 12:23 am
george bush has been a road block to this sort of research death to him
September 18th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Its a polystyrene ear placed under its skin idiots
September 18th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Une souris a trois oreilles. Quel intérêt?
September 20th, 2008 at 4:42 am
is this Pinky or The Brain?
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:54 pm
As far as reconstructive surgery goes, i can see the potential use of this. For example, if someone had lost an ear in an accident, they may not be able to recover their hearing but they could undergo a procedure like this and create a living prosthetic ear. Just an idea… I’m not really sure if that would work.
September 25th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
@koko, if that was a ***** we wouldnt need ******* anymore!
September 27th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
@Tre…if you lost your ear they could replace it with this mouse. You’d look pretty funny then wouldnt ya!
October 3rd, 2008 at 8:21 pm
“But there was absolutely no genetic engineering involved in getting that ear to cover almost all of the mouse’s back.”
wtf??? where the hell did that HUMAN ear come from then??
October 6th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
you guys know something that ear probably wen to some little kid who had their ear ripped off in some kind of accident…yes it looks gross but it might have saved a lil child from a life of criticism and being called a freak and shit…..some day when you need something and they grow it on a hairless rat you will all be singin a differant tune…..
October 7th, 2008 at 11:45 am
ATTENTION INTERNET
The ear was not grown on the mouse.
It was grown in a petri dish and the stuck on the mouse to get it in the papers.
END.
October 8th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
YYYYYEEEEWWW!!!!!!!!! A mouse with a humans ear, how histerical what shit are humans doing these days!!!!!!
hey boys im available MWA love!!!
October 8th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
call me 999
October 8th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
gaby i totally agree with you
GO TELL ‘EM’
October 8th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
he can hear you call for dinner!
October 13th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Nunes… It actually isn’t a human ear… it’s cow cartiladge molded into the shape of a human ear. That particular breed of mouse has no immune system, so it can take cross species transplants.. So scientists transplanted the cow cartalidge to the mouse and shaped into the shape of an ear.
October 14th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
So cute!
October 16th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
ok so they can shape cartildge in the shape of of ear, thats pretty cool, but i have to say that mouse rat thing ives me the heebie jeebies! uhh…
October 17th, 2008 at 1:12 am
mebbe they can put titties on it?
October 17th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
the scientist gave it to his wife as a pet because she complained that nobody would listen to her. . . .unfortunately it died in 2 days from overexertion.
October 24th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
… WTF?
November 4th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
at least now he can hear the cat coming from behind
November 5th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Tor you are the worst troll of all time. Sorry. Become an hero.
November 6th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
eeew >_<
November 6th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
I can dig the ear, but what the ***** wrong with its nose?
November 12th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
LOL it reminds me of south park where mrs. garrison wanted another sex change and had them grow a p*enis on a mouse
November 14th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
you’d like that wouldnt ya you little penis smoker.
November 16th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
“# Pistol Star Says:
August 26th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Photoshopped! I see pixels!”
It’s not shopped, read the Wiki entry its from cow cartilage. All pictures are made up with pixels.. so of course you see pixels. Dummkopf.
November 20th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
are there outsized pixels in this image?
November 27th, 2008 at 1:32 am
this was recently on tv, they put a mold in that shape before altering the mouse to grow it, they are mimicing the human growth process and hope to one day use it to make other limbs and organs, the application possibilities are endless!!!! The mouse cannot actually grow the system such as the ear drum and hairs that pick up sound, but once they perfect it , they could grow this ear on oh say a war veteran and his body would help it grow the rest…:D overall science at its best, animal testing is ok here, not on make up.
December 6th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
wtf is this bullshit
December 18th, 2008 at 5:07 am
that’ll plug the hole in my esophagus…
December 24th, 2008 at 10:05 am
disgusting, let the wrath of nature be upon us.
December 30th, 2008 at 1:40 am
Can you hear me now?
December 31st, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Everyone needs to stop b*tchin’ about Tor…
January 1st, 2009 at 1:19 pm
This mouse isn’t “totally hairless”, it has mustache!
This picture hasn’t changed the world, it is about to change it!
January 2nd, 2009 at 2:50 am
My cousin just got his ear bitten off by some loser with a temper, its not a joke, maybe you dicks should think twice before typing stupid comments because it doses happen!!!!
January 4th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
Why would they grow a ear shaped tumor on a mouse?
January 5th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
Actually, this technology goes to good use. Scientists can use it to grow missing body parts, like on 12 year-old Sean G. McCormack. He was born without bone or cartilage on his left chest, and a plate was grown for him as protection. Also, the mouse shown here was probably going to die anyway. This mouse was specially selected because it has almost no immune system. Any immune system would have rejected a cell system from a different species. Because the mouse has no immune system, its body grew blood vessels to the foreign cartilage, and nurtured the tumor.