Wednesday 1 September 2010

DNA Gathering Development a Blow to Japan's Whaling 'Science' - The Australian

Again, with the quotes around "science." I just love that, such a nice touch. You ain't foolin' no one, Japan.

So, Japan says whales need to be killed in order to be studied, which is crap because other nations study whales and dolphins just fine while keeping them alive. Just like any other animal, just like people as well. Anyway.

A new method, called "blow-sampling," allows scientists to get DNA information without killing the animal of interest. It works by capturing the air and spit exhaled by the whales as they come up for air, which if you've ever been in a basic genetics class, you know you can get the equivalent of cheek cells and all that good stuff in it. Isn't bio fun?

Scientists have been using dart methods that remove a small piece of skin from the animal for a while now, though...So it's not like we needed a new reason not to kill whales. But here you go, here it is anyway!

Full article here (The Australian)

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