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NEWS > SCIENCE > SOUTH KOREAN SCIENTISTS CREATE AND EAT GLOWING DOG
SOUTH KOREAN SCIENTISTS CREATE AND EAT GLOWING DOG
July 30 2011
Seoul, South Korea – While it is mostly logical and rational discipline, there is no debating that some of the greatest scientific discoveries have come about in irrational ways; some in fact have just been dumb luck. Penicillin is the most famous example of 
such an accidental discovery, but so was the radioactivity, and the invention of both the pacemaker and plastics. Science, for all its logical and sensible underpinnings, is still very much a human endeavour and subject to the same eccentricities as all other human activities.
Sometimes scientific advances actually come from obscure regions, things to which people would pay little attention but end up changing the world. Such an event may have just occurred in South Korea with the cloning of a dog named ‘Tegon’ who may provide a path towards curing Alzheimer’s and other human ailments. The dog, cloned specifically for such research, glows fluorescent green when given a specific antibiotic, a technique researchers hope to apply to human beings in the near future. In theory, the technique would allow a manipulated gene, the one which makes the dog glow, to be substituted for faulty genes which make humans sick. As is the tradition in South Korean laboratories, Tegon was eaten shortly after the experiments were concluded as a part of a celebration.
“Dogs and humans share a number of diseases and by highlighting dogs in which we are capable of artificially showing these symptoms we will be able to study and potentially isolate these ailments in humans. It is not a cure but it is a major step 
towards a possible solution to disease like Alzheimer’s which afflict so many people,” said one researcher. “We are very pleased with the results of this work. We feel that this will mark a major step towards the treatments of many diseases. We plan on continuing this work and creating other animals with similar characteristics in order to fully study their effects and possible solutions to human ailments.”
The dog was eaten with barbeque sauce. It apparently had a tangy quality.
“The idea of using animals for experimentation has definitely become unpalatable in recent years but there is little doubt that it has significant benefits to scientific research and provides human beings with major health benefits. This particular advance, this glowing dog, is cool and all, but it is not a cure by any stretch. This is more of a diagnostic tool than a solution, but one which could be very helpful,” said Scrape TV Science analyst Dr. Howard Poe. “Gene isolation is a very important step towards understanding disease. If we are able to highlight the particular gene which is causing the issue we can develop techniques to treat or replace that anomaly and essentially rid ourselves of the disease. This is very early stage, but an important one.
The researchers should be proud of their work. Hope they enjoyed the barbeque.”
Reportedly the researchers also brought along Kimchi and potato salad, a particular favourite at the lab.
“The funny thing with science is that you never know where things might go. William Perkins, for example, tried to find a cure for malaria and instead invented the first synthetic dye. Later on Paul Ehrlich used those dyes to pioneer advances in cancer diagnosis. Science moves in unpredictable ways,” continued Poe. “Ostensibly this technique is to be used for diagnosing ailments, but there are endless uses for a glowing dog. I wouldn’t be surprised to see dogs of many colours in pet and produce counters across South Korea in the coming years and that’s just the beginning.”
Thus far the gene therapy has not been used on humans but it is not believed that, when that happens, that the patients will also be eaten.
Anna Phillips, Science Correspondent
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