# Invent a better mousetrap, and someone will invent a better mouse.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invent-a-better-mousetrap-and-someone-will-invent-a-better-mouse/425056>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [November 2, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invent-a-better-mousetrap-and-someone-will-invent-a-better-mouse/425056 "2007-11-02T20:31:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invent-a-better-mousetrap-and-someone-will-invent-a-better-mouse/425056/1 "2007-11-02T20:31:22Z")

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According to this [BBC story](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7074831.stm), researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio have created a ‘supermouse’:

> [@](#):
>
> A genetically modified “supermouse” which can run twice as far as a normal rodent has been created by scientists working in the US.
> 
> It also lives longer, and breeds later in life compared with its standard laboratory cousin.
> 
> The scientists found their new mice would eat twice as much as normal mice - but weigh half as much. They could also give birth at three years old - which in human terms is akin to an 80-year-old woman giving birth

Glad these aren’t loose in my apartment…

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**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2007, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invent-a-better-mousetrap-and-someone-will-invent-a-better-mouse/425056/2 "2007-11-02T20:34:01Z")

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I think a super mouse would eat half as much and weigh twice the competition. That is an advance in use of resources. Just because the United States is obese we seem to be losing perspective.

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**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2007, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invent-a-better-mousetrap-and-someone-will-invent-a-better-mouse/425056/3 "2007-11-02T20:48:43Z")

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There simply is [no substitute](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mighty_mouse).