Can The Bulldog Be Redesigned?
Bulldog brandon.weight via FlickrThe breed risks collapsing under its own traits Here at PopSci we frequently talk about genetic modification, the process of interrupting or editing gene sequences to introduce new traits that nature by itself does not. Far less often do we talk about the other option - let's call it morphologic modification, for the process of unnaturally selecting and breeding for those desired traits. Take, for example, the dog. Every companion canine, from a blue heeler to a bulldog, is the same species, just with different phenotypes. Maintaining these types sometimes involves inbreeding to advance the traits that breeders want the most. This can introduce some health problems. But perhaps no dog is more plagued by these problems than the bulldog, beset by breathing troubles, congenital heart problems and eye issues. So some veterinarians - and the Humane Society of the United States - are pushing to re-engineer it. The...