Stingray Sneakers
 

A company that goes by the name of Rayfish footwear,
http://www.rayfish.com/
claim to be able to grow genetically modified stingrays in any colour/pattern you like and then turn them into sneakers like this:

http://www.glamour.com/fashion/blogs...ootwear_fa.jpg

Is it actually possible to produce these patterns in genetically modified stingrays?

My BS detector went FSD; I reckon it's a hoax.

http://www.livescience.com/20705-tra...hoes-fake.html

Want to buy a customizable sneaker made from transgenic stingray leather? You would be better off saving your $1,800 — scientists say the claims of Rayfish Footwear go beyond what is possible with modern genetic engineering.

more at link...

From the first link under rayfish hoax:
Community member auricomindustries says, "For those of you thinking 'this is a hoax', congrats, your BS detectors are working. No transgenic stingray has, to date, been described in any scientific literature. I work on transgenic zebrafish, where pattern genetics are relatively well understood, and we don't have anything like this level of control over pattern or colour. Either this company has done about a billion dollars of research in stingray genetics without anyone noticing and achieved a level of proficiency beyond that of the best academic scientists anywhere, or this is a fairly clever viral marketing tool (you'll notice you can't actually buy the shoes, they just want you to submit designs on their website)." The second link quotes named scientists saying much the same thing.

"To the best of my knowledge, there is no way to do what they claim both in terms of the colors, as many of those colors on their website have no way to be expressed in the skin, and the ability to completely control the pattern that they imply has not been achieved for any animal," said Randy Lewis, a biologist at Utah State University.

But why would you want GM stingray shoes in the first place?

Fashion...

I reckon they look pretty cool. I can see people wanting them.

Maybe in 1995 http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/smile.png

Well that's a relief, $1800 is more than my shoe budget for the next 3 years or so anyway.

As well my cat has chewed out the odd pair of shoes and I'm sure she'd take a fancy to some marine based ones given her liking of Snappy Tom.

fluoro is back... isn't it...

Do they have genetically modified Soles too?

*golf clap*

all i can add is....

Crikey!

There's a sting in the tail?

certainly add new meaning to the expression "get your skates on".

Yeah. Don't want to be left floundering.

You're all flakes.

maybe but we're having a whale of a time.

;-)

As long as the thread doesn't get harpooned.