Jul 28 2009Blue Dye May Help After Spinal Injuries

FD&C Blue No. 1, a food dye commonly found in Gatorade and other unnaturally blue consumables, is believe do help prevent cell death after a spinal cord injury. Imagine what Purple No. 3 might do!
[The dye] appears to block a molecule that floods the injury site and kills nerve cells, a team reports in the July 28 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Rats dosed with the dye after injury showed greater improvement in motor skills than rats not receiving the dye. And the food colorant's low toxicity suggests a new approach for treating spinal cord trauma in humans, injuries for which there are few therapies."It's not a cure," says neuroscientist Maiken Nedergaard of the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y., who led the new study. "I don't think that anything can cure this, but for the patient it could be a big improvement."
Blue No. 1 folks, it's the future. Which sucks, because I've been stockpiling Yellow No. 5. Now what am I supposed to do with it all? BESIDES POUR IT INTO THE WATER SUPPLY AND BECOME THIS CITY'S GREATEST LOVER!
Brilliant blue for the spine [sciencenews]
Thanks to dustin and Julian, who only experiment with drugs.

Reader Comments
1. Dan - July 28, 2009 6:18 PM
THIRST
2. henree - July 28, 2009 6:21 PM
WORST.
3. SmokingGirl - July 28, 2009 6:25 PM
4001 posts! YAY...
Other than that, I've got nothing. Although I am curious as to whether or not this turns you blue, but I'm not curious enough to actually ask it outright.
4. Ollie Williams - July 28, 2009 6:31 PM
So wait.. you're saying if I consume mass amounts of blue #1 my skin and eyes will turn blue? Sign me the fu*k up!
5. Johnny B - July 28, 2009 6:34 PM
@4 Ollie Williams (ha ha) "He gonna get it!"
if you consume mass amounts of blue #1, probably IN YOUR SPINAL COLUMN, your skin and eyes may turn blue.
So if your eyes turn blue, then you get really stoned, will they look purple?
6. jaja - July 28, 2009 6:34 PM
Wow this is awesome !
@jaja SHUT YOU'RE DAMN MOUTH YOU GOOCHSUCKER !
7. Pew³ - July 28, 2009 6:34 PM
Too much blue dye and you will turn blue, grow an atomic symbol on your forehead, flash way too much blue penis and destroy major cities with a bomb you unknowingly created. But only in the movie version. In the graphic novel version giant aliens destroy the cities. But you still walk around with a lot of blue penis.
Yeah, so easy on the blue dye.
8. SlowMonkey - July 28, 2009 6:39 PM
Really? I've only ever heard complaints about blue balls.
9. mybrute is ghey - July 28, 2009 6:39 PM
MUST SEE__>http://brutefagsmustdie.mybrute.com/
10. Moose Knuckle - July 28, 2009 6:48 PM
@7 Well I hear that the directors cut has 24 extra minutes of blue penis which, IMHO, is a far cry from effective plotting, accurate characterization, and a proper ending involving a giant telepathic squid with a snapping vagina dentata exploding upon teleportation into New York.
11. Ramen - July 28, 2009 6:49 PM
Aw, I want a blue rat with a broken back. It's cute.
12. Rutty - July 28, 2009 6:50 PM
awww... wook at the wittle piwwows the wats get after their spines are severed!
cuuuuute. They look so relax n' chill.
13. Clint - July 28, 2009 6:51 PM
Lol! I think that was the first mybrute link I've ever actually clicked on this site :P
14. Moose Knuckle - July 28, 2009 6:53 PM
Also, you don't grow an atomic symbol, you PR guy gives you a helmet with a generic atomic symbol, wanting a symbol with more meaning you burn the "perfect" molecule hydrogen (1 nucleus with 1 orbiting electron) into forehead...
And then spend the rest of the movie waggling your smurf penis at everyone...
Except the giant squid with the vagina mouth, 'cause it isn't in the freakin movie!!!
15. Moose Knuckle - July 28, 2009 6:57 PM
How far down the rabbit hole do you go if you eat the blue mouse?
16. Calabasa209 - July 28, 2009 6:58 PM
purple koolaid/gatorade turns your poo blue
try it before you deny it
17. EinoJ - July 28, 2009 7:04 PM
Hmmm, I wonder how they go about breaking the rats spines.
18. Jeff - July 28, 2009 7:06 PM
@11 I was thinking the same thing!
Damn cute mice..
19. Tinkerballs - July 28, 2009 7:11 PM
ROCHESTER NY IS ON THE MAP WHOO!... i thought the lilac festival was the only thing we had goin.. and even that isnt goin.
20. Tennist0 - July 28, 2009 7:20 PM
hey GW...I gotta...cousin, yeah thats right, his name is Vinnie, he can, y'know, take some of that yellow no. 5 off of your hands
21. naas - July 28, 2009 7:35 PM
they gave it too much ecstasy
22. Bethy - July 28, 2009 7:38 PM
When I was younger I used to die my rats with hair dye....
23. Not A Bum - July 28, 2009 7:42 PM
Lol So cute looking
-notabum.com
24. Ketchup - July 28, 2009 8:11 PM
that is one damn cute blue mouse! i wants me a blue mouse!
25. pzhangster - July 28, 2009 8:31 PM
yay!! u of r yipee!
26. killerabbit - July 28, 2009 8:42 PM
Soylent Blue #1 is people!!!!!!
27. Spikey DaPikey - July 28, 2009 8:58 PM
All they need to do now is to make it glow in the dark :D
28. Sinamon - July 28, 2009 9:16 PM
i love how they say "injured rats" like they're doing them a favor now by helping them.
what they actually mean is "the rats that had their spines snapped by our bare hands."
29. DH - July 28, 2009 9:23 PM
the only conceivable way i can think of someone discovering this is a spinal surgeon who needed thirst quenching to the max STAT.
30. brush with baking soda - July 28, 2009 9:35 PM
fd&c blue no. 1 is a known carcinogen. a cancer cell is a cell that is no longer able to die and spreads. blue helps cells damaged cells from dying? at what cost?
31. LSD - July 28, 2009 10:32 PM
blue skin...blue eyes..HELL YEAH BREAK MY BACK AND SIGN ME UP
32. lol MICE - July 28, 2009 11:37 PM
You've got to wonder though.. how do the mice get the back injuries?
33. Elise C - July 28, 2009 11:40 PM
I have to say, it's pretty funny that I've been reading your blog for so long and had no idea you live here AND know my dad.
34. Joker Boy - July 29, 2009 12:03 AM
Wow! Scientist won't be happy until this world is swamped with killer rat, robots, or turn us into zombie-like creatures! See Willard, Terminator and Resident Evil for references...
35. Tide - July 29, 2009 12:07 AM
Where the futaken is Daisy?
36. Spikey DaPikey - July 29, 2009 1:04 AM
@36 she was a fake, photoshopped, you could tell by the pixels...
37. mousekateers - July 29, 2009 1:17 AM
So, WTF? They break their backs, pump 'em full of blue dye and then just give them some little pillows to drool all over for the rest of their lives? Awesome.
38. geekofan - July 29, 2009 3:19 AM
check this out >>
http://75684.onodot.com/
39. Graf Zeppelin - July 29, 2009 4:19 AM
@28 Best point so far. Oh ... you're so keeeewwt!!!! *snap*
Just wait for rainbow color no. 69.......... Awesoooome!
40. Rorsach - July 29, 2009 5:00 AM
Great! right now we are pretty much f***'d up, damn scientistsfags, they created Mr. ManhattanRat, when he learns how to use their powers there will be some people getting their atoms restructured to be a giant cheddar cheese to fed this minion, SCIENCE HEAR ME, F**K YOU!!!! NOW WE ALL GONA DIE THX TO YOU!!!
41. Eric - July 29, 2009 6:14 AM
Shit, Carlin was right. Blue food does bestow immortality. That's why we weren't given any...and had to create chemists to make us some of our own.
42. Mugen - July 29, 2009 7:38 AM
Cheese.
43. lin - July 29, 2009 7:56 AM
Jimmy Choo Sandals
jimmy choo
44. Daisy - July 29, 2009 8:51 AM
FAKE!!!!
This is a complete photoshop job. You can tell its a fake because the shadow's are all wrong.
Thisis exactly like that scene in the movie Never Back Down where Max and BAja visit a candymaker, and Baja tries some experimental gum, against the candymakers orders. She turns blue and plumps, so some midgets roll her to the juicing room.
45. Timbo - July 29, 2009 8:58 AM
Smurfs make their comeback!!
46. Pat - July 29, 2009 9:04 AM
I would only have this procedure done if it made me as cute as that blue-tinged mouse.
47. Alexander - July 29, 2009 9:20 AM
Ok, I don't want to seem like an idiot here...but do the rats really turn blue like that or is that a photoshop job?
48. shadwag - July 29, 2009 9:24 AM
blue his mouse with a blue little window and a blue corvette...da ba dee da ba di do...
49. $.02 and a pocket full of FAH-Q - July 29, 2009 9:37 AM
I want a white rat/mouse with blue ears/nose/feet. Thank you.
50. Ollie Williams - July 29, 2009 10:15 AM
@49
Nicely done.
51. flyingskeleton - July 29, 2009 10:31 AM
Can you really turn a RAT blue by feeding it blue die? If so i want a one!!!!
52. Derrick - July 29, 2009 11:13 AM
This is exactly the kind of crap thats going to cause the zombie apocalypse... see here ---> http://www.ehow.com/how_5210669_survive-apocalypse-easy-correct-way.html
53. drew - July 29, 2009 11:26 AM
LAST! (hopefully)
54. Freddy K - July 29, 2009 11:27 AM
We found the spice!!!! (albeit in liquid form) Screw you Dune and your desert. We have our own supply now.
Vladimir Harkonnen is a twat.
55. $.02 and a pocket full of FAH-Q - July 29, 2009 11:27 AM
^ FAIL
56. click the link - July 29, 2009 11:28 AM
Yes, they turn blue when you stick an IV in them and fill it with blue dye. Click the link and read the original article that the GW butchered.
In other news, when these rodent bastards eventually get 'tested' with some other random chemical to see if it'll cure it's ailments, what happens when one of them mutates and rules the world? Will they drop 'heavy weights' on the lower backs of humans and give us Gatorade IV's to figure out if we can regain some more motor skills than the other human that got crushed by a railcar but didn't get pumped full of Gatorade?
57. Freemen - July 29, 2009 11:57 AM
@56 lol! back to basics again good ol' reference to the spice, i liked so much i lol'd plenty :D
58. Freddy K - July 29, 2009 12:07 PM
@59
Someone has to keep it real.
helping put the geek in geekologie.
59. Joshua Williams - July 29, 2009 1:59 PM
Well since we have all seen The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I'm pretty sure that those mice were already aware of the capabilities of blue dye as opposed to red, but they just couldn't tell us! After all, mice ARE the smartest creatures on the planet Earth and we are merely experiments to them.
60. sup - July 29, 2009 5:16 PM
so there are scientist breaking cute little mice's backs and putting blue die on them.
61. pez dispenser - July 29, 2009 10:27 PM
@60, who puts in the ologie?
62. Jaded Icon - July 30, 2009 7:06 AM
This dye is also in M&M's and Skittles (taste GFS's rainbow, I hear it's delicious). So if you are eating and incredible amount and someone scoffs you just tell them that your spine can beat their spine in a breaking contest.
63. Melli - July 30, 2009 7:30 AM
Oh this is so mean! and those aren't pillows, they are just a stack of disposable plastic trays you use for measuring chemicals on electronic balances.
64. Gordon "Fücking" Shumway - July 30, 2009 8:53 AM
@64
http://hipsterfaceoff.com/hipimages/chickenlover.jpg
65. twellve - August 1, 2009 7:45 AM
i'd quite like to turn blue temporarily.
oooh better yet, how about robert pattinson as a blue vampire? that'd be way hot.
66. furwood - August 4, 2009 2:41 PM
?! the mice will rise up eventually