Word of the Day: adoxography

adoxography (n)

Skilled writing on a trivial subject.

"It should be appreciated that the author's use of words such as tokology and phenology is not just an indulgence in logodaedelic adoxography or in logomachic proselytism."
--G.W. Potts, Fish Reproduction: Strategies and Tactics

Maybe "adoxography" would be a good name for this blog.

Oh, fish....

A company in Taiwan has developed a tropical fish that glows in the dark. It's a zebra fish (one of the most common aquarium critters -- I own four non-glowers) that's been genetically modified with jellyfish DNA to give off a ghostly green light. It's also been made sterile, so it won't breed more eerie glowfish if it somehow gets loose in lakes and rivers. Might make an odd but fun addition to an aquarium, though they're rather pricey at US$17 per. I find that pet fish die too often to just flush 17 bucks down the toilet (more or less literally) every time one expires.

If we have to play God with DNA, I suppose glowing is a benign enough innovation. What's alarming, though, is that other companies are apparently working on modified fish from the tropics that will survive at colder temperatures. And that could present a big problem, even if they're sterile. Just imagine dipping your foot into your favorite lake or stream and having it nibbled on by a piranha.