
Japanese scientists said Tuesday they had produced a mouse that tweets like a bird in a genetically engineered "evolution" which they hope will shed light on the origins of human language.
A team of researchers at the University of Osaka created the animal in their "Evolved Mouse Project," in which they use genetically modified mice that are prone to miscopying DNA and thus to mutations.
"Mutations are the driving force of evolution. We have cross-bred the genetically modified mice for generations to see what would happen," lead researcher Arikuni Uchimura said.
"We checked the newly born mice one by one... One day we found a mouse that was singing like a bird," he said, noting that the "singing mouse" was born by chance but that the trait will be passed on to future generations."I was surprised because I had been expecting mice that are different in physical shape," he said by telephone, adding that in fact the project had also produced "a mouse with short limbs and a tail like a dachshund."
The laboratory, directed by professor Takeshi Yagi at the Osaka University's Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences in western Japan, now has more than 100 "singing mice" for further research.
Considering that mutant mice tweet louder when put in different environments or when males are put together with females, Uchimura said their chirps "may be some sort of expressions of their emotions or bodily conditions."
"I know it's a long shot and people would say it's 'too absurd'... but I'm doing this with hopes of making a Mickey Mouse some day," he said.
Australia's desert
As world leaders enfold up a climate change summit in Cancun, Mexico, aimed at reaching an emissions deal, countries across the world are witnessing worrying effects of global warming.
Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo reports from the Upsala Glacier, a major body of ice in southern Argentina that is moving back at an alarming rate.
Bees see the world almost five times quicker than humans, says new research.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested and jailed without bail Tuesday in a sex-crimes investigation, but his organization scarcely missed a beat, releasing a new batch of the secret cables that U.S. officials say are destructing America's security and relations worldwide.
Mark Webber has exposed he suffered a broken shoulder in a mountain bike crash during the Formula One title run-in.
It's a boy! The giant panda cub born earlier this month at Zoo Atlanta is a little man with a big belly who is already showing his black and white markings, a zoo spokeswoman said Friday.
FIFA's World Cup will be held in Qatar in 2022, the leading body said in a press conference Thursday.

Olympic champion Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia had to save two championship points before beating defending Asian Games champions Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong of Malaysia 16-21, 26-24, 21-19 in the men’s doubles last on Saturday.
Two male squirrel monkeys now see the world in an entire new way in full color.
His adventures to find the perfect icy picture have taken him all over the world - from Patagonia in South America to Iceland in the North Atlantic. As these amazing pictures show his trips are well worth it as he captures the dramatic beauty of these hidden low temperature landscapes.

WikiLeaks is an international non-profit media organization that publishes submissions of otherwise unavailable documents from anonymous sources and leaks. Its website, launched in 2006, is run by The Sunshine Press. Within a year of its launch, the site claimed a database that had grown to more than 1.2 million documents.
These odd circles may look like messages from aliens or the humorous graffiti of penguins, but it’s in fact the ephemeral
Because of the steady threat of losing the entire piece to a sharp gust of wind, a team of helpers assisted in the creation of the gigantic masterpiece. Eight people in all got out onto the ice and used brooms to brush the snow into simple, elegant circles. The work was chronicled on The Anthropologist, a site that features new artwork for Anthropologie.
According to the creator of Reborn puppets, an English artist Deborah King, her creations are not toys for children. All of these “substitutes for the child” are intended to brighten up the gray days of adults, to find some purpose to unspent parental love.
Group harrington are producing half scale cars allegedly aimed for kids, but adults can cram into them to. They build accurate half scale of the legendary timeless typical like the "Porche 356", "Mercedes Benz 300SL" "Jaguar E-type" "Bugatti T35" and the more recent "Willys Jeep". They are produced in both petrol and electric models. They can build your own car to order, you can choose any colour (metallic or solid) for the body, and any colour for the interior.