Apartments using dog DNA to catch poop-scoop scofflaws - the company "PooPrints" provides a feces-collection kit -

Apartments using dog DNA to catch poop-scoop scofflaws - the company "PooPrints" provides a feces-collection kit - 

Here's the scoop: Some apartment complexes are using DNA testing on dog doo to find out who's not cleaning up after their pets.

The Timberwood Commons in Lebanon, N.H., opened this year and already has had problems with some residents who aren't cleaning up messes their dogs leave.

So manager Debbie Violette is going to use commercially available DNA sampling kits to check the DNA that dogs leave behind when they go.

“We've tried doing the warning letters. We've tried all sorts of things,” she said Friday. “It's always a problem. It's just that the majority of people are responsible pet owners and there are a few who are not.”

She said residents have been told they must submit samples from their dogs so DNA profiles can be put on file.

“I want people to know that we're serious about this,” she said. More than 30 dogs call the 252-unit complex home.

Violette just received the kits from a Knoxville, Tenn., company called PooPrints, a subsidiary of BioPet Vet Lab. Jim Simpson, president of the lab, said about 20 properties in the country have been using the kits.

For testing samples, the company provides a feces-collection kit. A small amount is put in a solution and mailed back to the lab. DNA is extracted from the feces. The lab then checks to see if it matches any of the profiles listed for the apartment complex.

“It's one of the coolest things I've ever done as a property manager,” said Debbie Logan, who manages the Twin Ponds Development in Nashua, which has identified some problem pet owners through the tests.

Read more - 

http://www.thestar.com/living/article/1015495--apartments-using-dog-dna-to-catch-poop-scoop-scofflaws?bn=1

10 signs that our world may be destined to resemble a really bad science fiction movie…. -

10 signs that our world may be destined to resemble a really bad science fiction movie…. - 


#1 In China, scientists have inserted human genes into the DNA of dairy cow embryos.  At this point, approximately 200 hybrid cows have been successfully produced.  These cows can produce milk that is virtually identical to human breast milk.  The scientists hope to have huge herds of these cows producing an alternative to human breast milk soon, and they hope to have this “milk” sold in global supermarkets within 3 years.
#2 In Canada, scientists at the University of Guelph in the province of Ontario have produced what they are calling “enviropigs“.  These “enviropigs” have had genes from mice spliced into them, and according to the scientists they produce less phosphorous in their poop so they are being touted as environmentally friendly.  Authorities in both the U.S. and Canada are evaluating whether or not to allow these “enviropigs” into the food supply.
#3 Scientists in Japan have created a genetically modified mouse that tweets like a bird.
#4 One U.S. corporation can now produce a very muscular “monster salmon”which can grow up to three times as fast as normal salmon do.
#5 Science can now produce cats that glow in the dark.  A genetically modified cat created by scientists named Mr. Green Genes was the very first fluorescent cat in the United States.  But Mr. Green Genes was not the first “glow in the dark cat” in the world.  That honor went to a cat created by a team of scientists in South Korea.
#6 In Japan, scientists have discovered that they can grow rat organs inside of mice.  The researchers hope to use the same technology to grow human organs inside of pigs.
#7 But Japan is not the only one doing this kind of research.  In Missouri, entitiesthat are part pig and part human are being grown with the goal of providing organs for human transplants.
#8 Scientists at Rockefeller University have injected human genes into mice.  These “humanized mice” are being used to study the spread of the hepatitis C virus.
#9 U.S. scientists have discovered that they can actually “grow” new human organs from scratch.  The following is a quote from a recent Newsweek article….

It might sound like science fiction, but growing new organs from scratch has already become reality. In addition to bladders, scientists have engineered new skin, bone, cartilage, corneas, windpipes, arteries, and urethras.

#10 Believe it or not, a company in Canada known as Nexia has actually taken goats and has genetically modified them to be part spider. The genetic modification process causes these “spider goats” to produce spider silk protein in their milk.  This spider silk protein is collected, purified and spun into incredibly strong fibers. These fibers are apparently more durable than Kevlar, more flexible than nylon, and much stronger than steel.
As frightening as all of those examples may sound, the truth is that the genetic modification of plants has gone even farther than the genetic modification of animals has gone.
Today, approximately 93 percent of all soybeans and approximately 80 percent of all corn in the United States have been genetically modified.
Considering the fact that corn is literally in thousands upon thousands of our food products, there is a really good chance that you consumed some genetically modified food today.
Are you certain that it was safe?
Genetically modified crops have been linked to organ disruption in at least 19 different studies.
In addition, there is also an increasing body of evidence that suggests that genetically modified food actually alters our digestive systems.
Do we really know everything that we need to know about genetically modified food?
Perhaps we should have investigated all of this sooner.  The truth is that once genetically modified crops get out into the wild it is just about impossible to put the genie back into the bottle.
A while back, a genetically modified strain of maize that was banned in the EUwas accidentally sown all across Germany.
Oops.
But once it got out there was no way of totally eliminating it.  In fact, in many areas of the world genetically modified crop strains are breeding natural crop strains out of existence.
We are permanently changing the natural order of things.
Is that really a great idea?


Read more - 
http://www.blacklistednews.com/Genetic_Modification_Gone_Wild%3A_10_Signs_That_Our_World_May_Be_Destined_To_Resemble_A_Really_Bad_Science_Fiction_Movie_/14439/0/0/0/Y/M.html