‘Rat race’ takes on new meaning

Far be it from us to be squeamish about medical breakthroughs that might, one day, be used to save lives. Still … human fetal kidneys transplanted into rats? Ugh.

A Honolulu-born researcher, Nick K. Chang, and his colleagues have done just that — successfully, with rats surviving with the transplanted kidneys for about four months. The ultimate goal is to one day be able to grow organs in host animals for ailing humans who desperately need them, due to severe shortage of donated organs. In the short term, this might open a path for drug testing on organs in non-human beings.

So good luck to the team and Chang, 31, who’s a Duke University medical student and CEO of Ganogen Inc. Go work your scientific magic — we were particularly impressed by the transplant stitches used that are several times smaller than the width of a human hair. We’ll just look away for now.

Soldiers detained and morale drops

The commander who locked down 450 soldiers at Schofield Barracks over the holiday weekend to look for a piece of missing equipment appears to have ignored a crucial bit of evidence: The equipment, reportedly a $20,000 experimental night-vision sighting device, has not been properly accounted for in two weeks.

So, predictably, days of searching turned up nothing.

Along with a potential theft problem, the 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment apparently has a record-keeping problem. It remains to be seen whether the morale-busting response will cure either.