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South Korean scientists said they have created a glowing dog using a cloning technique that could help find cures for human diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.


A research team from Seoul National University (SNU) said the genetically modified female beagle, named Tegon and born in 2009, has been found to glow fluorescent green under ultraviolet light if given a doxycycline antibiotic, the report said.

The researchers, who completed a two-year test, said the ability to glow can be turned on or off by adding a drug to the dog's food.

"The creation of Tegon opens new horizons since the gene injected to make the dog glow can be substituted with genes that trigger fatal human diseases," the news agency quoted lead researcher Lee Byeong-chun as saying.

He said the dog was created using the somatic cell nuclear transfer technology that the university team used to make the world's first cloned dog, Snuppy, in 2005.

The scientist said that because there are 268 illnesses that humans and dogs have in common, creating dogs that artificially show such symptoms could aid treatment methods for diseases that afflict humans.

The first planet that could support life as we know it outside our solar system has been discovered.
A team of European astronomers say they have detected a rocky world, possibly only 50 per cent larger than the Earth, circling a small red star called Gliese 581, 20.5 light years away in the constellation Libra.
What makes the discovery so important is that the planet orbits in what astronomers call the "Goldilocks zone" – where makes it neither too hot, nor too cold for life.
Astronomers have found more than 200 planets circling other stars, but, until now, all have been unsuitable for life because they are either massive gas balls, resembling Jupiter, that circle scorchingly close to their parent, stars, or have eccentric orbits that take them out into the bitterly cold depths of space.
The newly found "super-Earth," about five times more massive than our planet, is 14 times closer to its star than the Earth is from the sun. As a result, its year lasts only 13 Earth days. It has been named , named 581 c.
However, because the star is only a third the mass of our sun, it is also much cooler.
Astronomers estimate that the world's surface temperature would therefore be between 0 and 40 degrees.
"Water would thus be liquid," one of the discoverers, Stephane Udry, from Switzerland's Geneva Observatory, said.
"Models predict that the planet should be either rocky – like our Earth – or covered with oceans."

China's biggest city of Shanghai has converted its gasoline-powered trolley buses on the Nanjing Road into battery-powered vehicles as part of the efforts to reduce emissions.The trolley bus, nicknamed "Clang, Clang", has been installed with 24 batteries that will enable it to run for about 60 kilometers or sustain it for a day's operation.


Now all the six old trolley buses have been converted into battery-powered vehicles, emitting no tail gases. The conversion of the rest two will be completed by October 1, according to the trolley bus management company.All the old gasoline powered trolley buses used to emit tail gases far beyond the prescribed standards, according to the environmental monitoring staff members.The conversion of each trolley bus cost about 150,000 yuan, well worth in terms of social and economic effect, the trolley bus management company said.

All the storage batteries are recharged at night at half o the normal price, according to the operator.

Live fish and small turtles sealed in plastic keychains have become increasingly popular items sold at subway entrances and train stations across China.

The living keychains containing Brazilian turtles or king fish swimming in colored water are considered good-luck charms by many Chinese, but animal protection groups are outraged and call them a perfect example of “pure animal abuse”. Business is booming according to Chinese online newspaper Global Times, which reports one fish and nine turtle rings have been sold in just five minutes, on Tuesday, at the Sihui subway station, in Beijing.

According to vendors, the colored water in the 7-centimeter-long keychains contains nutrients that allow fish and turtles to live inside for months. While that may be true, Mary Peng, cofounder of the International Center for Veterinary Services, says they couldn’t survive in the sealed bag for very long, due to lack of oxygen.

While animal rights activists are protesting loudly against the sale of living keychains, there isn’t much else they can do, because China only has a Wild Animal Protection Law – if the animals are not wild animals they fall outside the law’s scope. Until the law changes to protect all kinds of animals, activists can only appeal to people not to buy them, and hope the market will die due to lack of customers.

Although some people buy these bizarre keychains to carry around for good-luck, there are those who buy them just to free the poor creatures from their tiny plastic cage.