Angry hamsters

Found this online and it tells the story nicely.

I’m gonna keep beating this drum for a while because I don’t want us all to just throw up our hands again and say “oh my, another mass shooting, but what can we do?”. What we can do is stay focused on the problem and the solution(s). Gun fetish and gun culture won’t go away until we make it go away, and that will take a long, sustained effort. Buckle up.

In other much less depressing news, Jacob Toppin is coming back to UK for another season! With another year of growth and experience, Toppin could be one of the best forwards in the country. He’s bold, freakishly athletic, and fun to watch. This is great news for Big Blue Nation. Welcome home, JT!

Here’s a cautionary tale for those who expect genetic editing via CRISPR to lead to a better, healthier future. While trying to edit the hamster genome to make them more passive (uh, why?), scientists got the exact opposite result. They created aggressive, angry hamsters, much to their surprise. So while we have a handle on the craft of genetic editing, we have no real understanding of the complex systems we’re modifying – i.e. a living being. It’s like Neanderthals learned to use a soldering iron and tried to modify a modern computer or TV. Most of the time they’re gonna break it.

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