Really? Maybe it's just the cryopreservation then? I had the impression that it wasn't possible, and I've never seen or heard of one. But then, I'm an animal tech in Norway, in a lab with 800 cages. Not exactly huge conditions on a world scale... Will have to research. :)

Yes, as far as necessary and possible. A pain free animal is healthier and less stressed, and therefore a better test subject. Animal welfare is generally good scientific practice because it produces better, more reliable results and helps keep the number of animals used down (because the data is more reliable you…

Good article, but the "Designer Lab Animals" paragraph is a very confusing because it mixes up mice and rats and makes it sound like there are transgenic rats.

What's your definition of "vermin"? Why are "vermin" worth less than other animals? Because they're not as cute?

Of all the Mystery Planets, Uranus must truly be the most Mysterious. There, temperatures approach absolute zero, and all the women there are naked!

I swear I saw a video with Reese Witherspoon as a slutty mermaid with fishy bits.

Suddenly I'm very happy that I have universal health care and that my doctor won't give me a pill I don't need and that might give me side effects just to keep me as a customer. Some doctors give too many pills anyway of course, but at least it's not for (legal) business purposes.

There is such a thing as too much material though. I'd love to have authors playing around with the structures of new novels, but I would actively hate "The Lord of the Rings: The Faramir Days".

Why is it so hard to believe that rats can be introspective? They're quite intelligent really. And there's no reason why introspection should just suddenly appear in "higher" mammals like primates.

Why? Rats are super cute and very friendly once they get to know a person. Bit like dogs I think. The rat in the picture is sorta pretty. I really like the cream colour with the dark eyes. :)

And here I was, thinking my cat was being cute and original when she starting placing dead dormice on the doormat. In fact, she was trying to summon the great Cthulhu. Should I be worried?

Well, I have some education and experience on animal health, and though I'm sure your snakes are fine they'd probably never survive in the wild. Almost all captive and domestic animals are inbred to some degree and they are okay because they're sheltered and given optimal diets and conditions. Just look at dogs. All…

True that. But on a global basis we're probably making more babies than we should. Adoption is probably a better solution than artificial wombs.

Well, Robinson can do the painstaking scientific research, and Stephenson could write the action. I love the Mars trilogy but I could never make myself re-read Blue Mars. It just moves sooo sloooow...

Not only are they the gingers of the tiger world, all the white tigers in captivity are descended from a male that was captured in India in the 50s. He was bred with his daughter to produce more white cubs, and so the "rare species of tiger" was born.

I really doubt we could clone a real population of animals anyway. The gene pool would be way too small so even if we got them breeding they'd be too inbred to survive for more than a couple of generations at most...

Who else sees a Neal Stephenson/Kim Stanley Robinson collaboration as the best way to solve this problem? *drools*

Did anybody else immediately think of the chevalines from Diamond Age?

No, we'd never heard of X-Men in Norway. I did want to go to Narnia though...

Who the **** would keep a cayman at home and call themselves an animal lover?