On Being a Blue Paraplegic

Okay, so maybe not the best post-title ever (or maybe it is...) but it has that grain of truth that separates "Obama a generally nice guy" from "Obama yet to kick puppies: what is he hiding now?"

So scientist, working on the "I wonder what would happen if...." hypothesis, have discovered that when mice with serious spinal injuries are injected with brilliant blue g [BBG] within fifteen minutes of their accidents they display increased mobility over mice that are not given such a treatment.

In short, feed a mouse a blue M&M and he might recover from previously paralyzing injuries.

Of course, as you can see, such a treatment will turn your skin blue. So not only do you recover from paralysis, but you'll spend the rest of your life being able to see all points in time at once and a curious urge to bang brunettes with a yellow spandex fetish.

You know what I find the most interesting about this? That somewhere there is a lab tech whose sole job is to cause debilitating spinal injuries to mice every day. Or maybe they give the furry little critters motorcycles and wait for the inevitable.

Original National Academy of Sciences article can be found here, found via here.