Phil Bowermaster has some interesting thoughts about making mice smart.

I read a commentary somewhere, humorously arguing that making mice smarter isn't a good idea. Best line (paraphrased):

"What I don't want is to put down a mouse trap and have the mouse look at me like, What, do you think I'm stupid!?"

Pretty much what I was thinking. I'm not against the research, and I seriously doubt they could reach anything like human level intelligence, but smart mice could lead to serious problems and start a biological arms race: After you find your pet cat tied up the backyard, it is time to create SmartCat. Then, after the cat ties YOU up because you didn't provide the tuna treat, it is time for SmartDog. And then ...

I'm not so sure we have to be all that worried about smart mice causing a pest problem. If the only things needed to have a smart mouse capable of successfully competing with native mice are some gene mutations, smart mice would've probably already evolved.

There already are "smart mice". They're called rats. Nearly impossible to get rid of and wonderful disease vectors.

Brains are very expensive organs. I suspect a 'smart mouse' would be outbred by its dumber wild relations.

I also suspect we'd screw up what function is already there if we made the brains bigger. For example, rodents are highly optimized for maintaining internal maps of burrows and obstacles (for escaping from predators); messing that up would be very antisurvival.

"Pinky, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

I seriously doubt that a mouse with human brain cells will have significantly greater intelligence than a mouse with just mouse brain cells. It's my understanding that mouse and human brain cells just aren't that different. Instead, the intelligence difference arise from brain structure, size and complexity. If the reasons for doing this are to create a smarter mouse then the researchers would be better off trying to induce structural changes in the mouse brain that will increase it's size and complexity. On the other hand, a mouse with human brain cells would certainly be useful for performing experiments at the cellular level -- experiments that could be done with humans.

I seriously doubt that a mouse with human brain cells will have significantly greater intelligence than a mouse with just mouse brain cells. It's my understanding that mouse and human brain cells just aren't that different. Instead, the intelligence difference arise from brain structure, size and complexity. If the reasons for doing this are to create a smarter mouse then the researches would be better off trying to induce structural changes in the mouse brain that will increase it's size and complexity. On the other hand, a mouse with human brain cells would certainly be useful for performing experiments at the cellular level -- experiments that could not be done with humans.

I think we *are* going to see genetic engineering of more intelligent animals, but not mice. Instead, the big market will be for smarter dogs and cats.