Mice and bats like this one share a genetic ancestor, and now they may become one species again. Yesterday, scientists announced they’d engineered mice with proto-bat wings. Researchers added bat genes to the mouse genome, and the results were “mice with abnormally long forelimbs.” Those long limbs are the first evolutionary step towards wings. More importantly, towards mice with wings. Or people.
According to Science Daily:
Dr. Richard Behringer describes the significance of his finding as such: “Darwin suggested that “successive slight modifications” would ultimately result in the evolution of diverse limb morphologies, like a hand, wing, or fin. The genetic change we engineered in mice may be one of those “slight modifications” to evolve a mammalian wing.”
Sign me up for the wings. After I modify my bones to be hollow and my body to be about an eighth of its size.
Molecular Evolution [Science Daily]
