#22 - Supermice

If I had girl triplets, I'd call them all Elizabeth.

Oh, there is logic for calling all three of my hypothetical triplets Elizabeth. They'd have three different nicknames: Elle, Lizzie and Beth, or something like that to distinguish them. To call them down for dinner, all I'd have to do is shout 'Elizabeth!' and they'd all come running down. What a time saver.

Lord Professor Robert Winston came to our school to talk to us about Reproductive Biology. It was absolutely fascinating, and left me wishing I'd become some scientist person. But that's a bit too late.
Damnit, what can I do with French and Russian?! I can't save the world with that...

He talked about modifying genes and the possibility of creating a superhuman. There's this gene called the PEPCK gene, which they inserted into some mice embryos. They became supermice. No joke. Here's a clip of Supermouse vs. Normal Mouse on treadmills. It's woah.

The PEPCK mouse (or Supermouse)

• Could run for 6km at a speed of 20m per minute for six hours without stopping
• Could reproduce at the age of 2.5 years (mice usually stop being able to reproduce after the age of one)
• Could live longer than the average mouse
• Could eat and eat without getting fat (I wish I had this gene...)

Supermouse!

Anyway, the point is, is that it could be possible in the future to create so-called 'superhumans', but of course, there are ethical implications that follow such a course of action...
If these superhumans were to exist, where would that leave us mere humans?

Robert Winston is pretty damn awesome. Plus he has a great moustache.

Another thought that struck me, which isn't really related to all this, was the idea of chance.
So you and I were made because the fastest sperm penetrated an egg. All the millions of other little fellows lost out on the chance to fuse with the egg. If it had been any other one sperm that got to the egg, you wouldn't have existed at all, and some other person would be where you are now.

I remember my mum talking about a miscarriage she'd had. I was nearly two when my parents thought they'd give me a companion. I don't know what the cause of it was, but if it hadn't happened, I would have had another sibling. Maybe Doug wouldn't have existed. Aha...