I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve spent lying awake, staring up at the ceiling and thinking to myself:
Gee, if only they could make a super strong mouse.
I bring this up because of several readers who sent emails regarding science news, several of which have to do with mice — and all of which I have combined into an informative feature we’ll call:
Modern scientific breakthroughs that couldinspire a horror movie franchise.
We’ll begin with a story about the creation of the first “super” mouse, which was sent in by Bonnie Higgins of Bridgeton, NJ, whose good intentions, I must assume, included keeping me awake at night armed with pepper spray and a sledge hammer. According to the article, scientists in Boston have created a mouse with giant muscles, “capable of enduring rigorous exercise for extended periods of time.”
This is great news for people like me, who often worry that the traps they put out might actually kill a mouse. Now mice will not only have neck muscles thick enough to withstand the trap, but they’ll also be strong enough to re-set those traps and then throw them back at me.
If we’re going to experiment with making something super strong, why not start with something more sensible?
“Hey, honey—have you seen the cat?”
“Last time I saw her she was chasing a mouse.”
“Where?”
“Through that hole in the wall. I think she’s on her way to the second floor. You can probably still catch her. The studs are slowing her down.”
So who cares if mice become strong enough to open the refrigerator and get their own cheese? We can always use our superior intellect!
Of course, this is the same intellect that we’re now using to make mice smarter.
This was bought to my attention by Jim Bricker of Lewiston, Idaho, who sent me an article headlined:
Geneticists Develop Big-Brained Mouse
I should clarify that this was not from the National Inquirer, and did not include a photo of a mouse with an enormous cranium writing on a chalkboard and wearing a propeller cap. According to Reuters health and science correspondent Maggie Fox, researchers at Harvard Medical School (again in Boston) have found a way to make a mouse’s brain so large that it has to fold up — much like a human’s — in order to fit inside the skull.
After reading this, two things are clear:
1) I will not be visiting Boston anytime soon.
2) Anyone who does plan to visit Boston should do so NOW, before it succumbs to a new race of highly intelligent mice with giant muscles.
And let’s just hope none of these mice ever reaches the University of Hawaii because, if they do, they might also glow in the dark.
That’s right. According to an article sent in by Brandy Sherman of Cottage Grove, Ore., professor Anthony Perry has created an entire litter of green, glowing mice.
This is very important because these mice can be utilized for things like…well…
Cats with night blindness?
The world’s most irritating night light?
How the heck should I know?
What I DO know is that I plan to buy whatever kind of cheese it tells me to.
(You can write to Ned Hickson at nhickson@thesiuslawnews.com, or at the Siuslaw News at P.O. Box 10, Florence, Or. 97439)
Ned's Blog 
I completely understand you. I am so happy to be on another continent. Do you think they can swim? I suggest you should have few kinds of cheese prepared just in case. Better safe that sorry. Some brie is “must have”.
Hahaha! Well, I CAN swim, so don’t be surprised if I come knocking on your door after my cheese tray runs out!
I’ve only experienced the mice strong enough to chew through my walls…..rather than study and enhance them, I eradicate them. Sorry scientists….they don’t contribute to my mortgage. I guess I should capture them and send them to Boston??
Just tell them Boston has free cheese; after that, all they need is GPS and a rental van 😉
The thing about mice is that they already scare the hell out of the majority of the world. Have you ever seen a funny YouTube video of someone just being “ok” with a mouse running out from under their cupboards? No, they are always dancing around and screaming from fear. Now, lets take some genetically engineered SUPER MICE and we can start discussing true fear! I’ll take the zombies any day!! Haha
I agree! And hopefully, (gulp) we’ll never have to deal with Super Zombie Mice…!
Aaaaagggghhhh…… I didn’t even think of that possibility!! Talk about worst case scenario!
I guess that I’m the only one excited about the prospect of Biker Mice from Mars becoming a reality? http://superpowerbros.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Biker_Mice_from_Mars_002.jpg
Lol! Probably. Well, and maybe Pope Benedict…
Thanks for finally filling us in on the missing origin story of legendary superhero Mighty Mouse.
Hahaha! Coming next: Mighty Mouse — the Dark Knight…
LOL 🙂
Funny thing; I will be applying to Boston University, I made this decision yesterday. But now, I think I should visit the campus to make sure I don’t see any mutant mice around, haha.
Hahaha! Let me know how that goes. I’d watch for glow-in-the-dark droppings as well, in case the mice are away at the gym 😉
Thanks for visiting my blog, Ned! I was here the other day, laughing as I read this post. Apparently, I could only manage to “Like” it because I was laughing so much. I think I wasn’t quite sure how to respond, as a previous owner of pet mice (I have two sons). It occurred to me that, had the little pets glowed in the dark, they would have been a lot easier to find when they escaped. But, imagine finding a glow-in-the-dark mouse with super-mouse strength under the bed and the punch in the face they’d deliver from behind the dust bunnies (let’s just hope dust bunnies never glow in the dark!).
I have to admit, I wondered if the mouse droppings would glow as well. Imagine finding that trail while heading to the restroom in the middle of the night!
Mice are actually my super heroes!! So many have sacrificed their lives for human well being! I used to date a renowned health researcher and I got to meet the many many mice that sacrificed their little glow-in-the-dark green lives to save us all. The heroes I visited with looked like this… http://kumikae01.gen-info.osaka-u.ac.jp/tg/tg-ad.cfm Their cute little hairless bodies were mixed with luciferase (firefly glow in the dark proteins). Totally sci fi super heroes.
Freaky stuff, and I still don’t understand the purpose for glowing mice..? And do their little mouse poops glow too? Never mind — I don’t want to know! Definitely heros in my book, too 😉