truTV: Not Reality. Actuality.

Mice Living the Good Life: University of Southern California researchers announced in February that they were able to breed mice with a certain skin gene "overexpressed," resulting in the mices' growing thicker hair, more whiskers, and "significantly larger" "external genitalia."

Recent Wisdom from Newspaper Columnists: From a January "Parenting" column by John Rosemond in the Providence (R.I.) Journal: Reader: "I can't keep my 20-month-old daughter out of the dog's food. I've tried scolding, distracting, time-out nothing has worked." Rosemond: "[F]rom a strictly nutritional standpoint [a nutritionist told me], most dog food is superior to the diets of many Americans." "[A pediatrician said] he has yet to see a child who suffered ill effects from eating dog food," except for chunk-type that might get stuck in the throat.

An African Grey parrot, N'kisi (trained by New York City artist Aimee Morgana), has apparently been reliably observed with an English vocabulary of 950 words and the ability to manipulate some of them in context, according to a British Broadcasting Corporation magazine report. According to a Cambridge University veterinary professor, the most promising gains from cognitive-ability testing on animals recently have been achieved with parrots.

Awesome! A dead, 50-ton, 50-foot-long sperm whale, being transported by flatbed truck through Tainan City, Taiwan, to the National Cheng Kung University in January exploded because of a buildup of gases from decomposition, drenching bystanders and nearby cars in an awesome deluge of blood and innards.

Latest Important Animal Research: Case Western Reserve University researchers revealed in a December journal article that cockroaches do not age gracefully, that after about 60 weeks of adulthood, they get stiff joints (which inhibits climbing) and hardened foot pads (which prevents sticking to vertical surfaces). One of the researchers, noticing that aged roaches seem to have lost their ability to escape from predators, hypothesized that the loss was brain-based; he tested the hypothesis by removing the roach's head (and, thus, brain), and sure enough, the roach once again was able to flee like a youngster.

National Geographic TV reported in January on designer-breeding of dogs, with emphasis on the not-yet- officially- recognized species of Labradoodle. Breeding decisions must be carefully made because, say experts, some interspecies pairings create unhealthy offspring. For example, mating a pug with a Pekingese would likely create a dog whose eyes would fairly easily dislodge from their sockets, and a Newfoundland- SAin't Bernard match-up would produce a dog particularly vulnerable to hip dysplasia. On the other hand, Yorkipoos and schnoodles appear to be safe, and the Labradoodle is a low-allergy, lightly-shedding version of the Labrador retriever.