Why Do Scientists Use Mice? The Hidden Heroes of Medical Research
Hidden Heroes Behind Medical Breakthroughs Every major medical breakthrough has a quiet cast of characters who never get thanked in the headlines. They don't wear lab coats, don't hold pipettes, and don't get their names on a single research paper — but without them, most of modern medicine simply wouldn't exist. They're mice. And their story is worth telling on its own. Little but Mighty Mice Mice make up the overwhelming majority of animals used in biomedical research, and for good reason. They share roughly 85% of their protein-coding genes with humans, breed quickly enough that researchers can study several generations in a short time, and are small and inexpensive enough to house in large numbers. But their real power lies in something more specific: mice can be genetically engineered with a precision that's simply not possible in humans — letting scientists switch a single gene on or off and watch, in real time, what that gene actually does...