NAKED MOLE RATS COULD LEAD TO MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS

Scientists are conducting their research on a new breed of "lab rats"- naked mole rats are the new phenomenon. They come from East Africa and are very resillient animals, physically. Naked mole rats are totally immune to cancer and scientists believe this may be attributed to a gene, p16, which prevents cells from growing together in crowded clusters. Naked mole rats also seem to be resistent to pain, too. When acid was dropped on the hairless, pink skin of a naked mole rat, it showed no reaction to the pain at all. Naked mole rats are small, skinless, blind, buck-toothed creatures who are not very pleasant to look at, but they provide scientists with a much better canvas to research human medical issues. Thomas Park , a biological science professor at the University of Illionois at Chicago, and his colleague, John Larson, will release a report in next month's Science Journal NeuroReport on how naked mole rats can survive over a half an hour without oxygen and not suffer brain damage. This is especially important as it could lead to a breakthrough in studying and understanding strokes in humans. Hopefully cures for all these diseases are not too far in the future. Click comments below to leave your thoughts or choose a reaction.