We've never understood why any child needs to poke around inside an amphibian, but holy "Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County": iTunes now offers a virtual frog dissection iPad app! In honor of this sophisticated and humane alternative to dissection, PETA is presenting its creator, Emantras Interactive Technologies, with a Mark Twain Ethical Science Award.

Every year, millions of frogs, cats, pigs, and other animals suffer and are killed for dissection even though modern non-animal teaching methods such as interactive computer programs are educationally superior, more economical, and safer (do you really want your kid handling formaldehyde?). Now, thanks to Emantras' new app—which can be downloaded on iTunes for $4.99—students who are lucky enough to own iPads can use touch-enabled virtual dissection tools to explore and manipulate a frog's organs in 3D.

PETA's Mark Twain Ethical Science Award recognizes its namesake's staunch opposition to the abuse of animals in experiments. Hailed as America's first animal advocate, Twain said of animal experimentation, "The pains which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity towards it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further."

Teaching students anatomy without harming animals? We think Mark Twain would approve. And thanks to the award, media outlets are abuzz about this new leap toward keeping classrooms cruelty-free. So how about channeling your inner Twain and taking action to cut out dissection? While you're doing that, I'm going to light up my corn-cob pipe and while away the afternoon dreaming about how much iWant an iPad.

Written by Amy Skylark Elizabeth

Mark Twain may be famous for his love of steamboats and jumping frogs, but some people may not be aware that he was also staunchly opposed to experiments on animals. He once wrote the following in a letter to the London Anti-Vivisection Society:

In honor of Twain's spirited defense of frightened animals who are caged and killed in laboratories, PETA has presented its first Mark Twain Ethical Science Award to the Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS), a nonprofit organization that has worked with scientists from hundreds of companies to design testing programs that replace tests on animals. PETA has donated more than $500,000 over the past decade to fund IIVS' work to develop non-animal tests.

In one case, IIVS developed a rapid screening method that allowed a company to eliminate the use of 750 rabbits per year, while almost doubling the number of products that the company was able to test each year. IIVS also works closely with regulators such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on non-animal testing strategies. With partial funding from PETA U.K., IIVS was instrumental in obtaining European Union approval of a non-animal skin irritation test as well as the first stand-alone non-animal eye irritancy test for certain classes of chemicals.

We think that Mark Twain would have been proud to have his name on an award recognizing IIVS for saving thousands of unconsenting animals.

Written by Alisa Mullins

"Heaven is by favor; if it were by merit your dog would go in and you would stay out."
—Mark Twain

Italy had Leonardo da Vinci, India had Mahatma Gandhi, England had William Wilberforce, and the U.S. had Mark Twain.

Like these other luminaries, Twain was a committed advocate for the humane treatment of animals, and we don't think that aspect of his life should be left out of any commemoration. So in advance of next week's 100th anniversary of Twain's death, PETA is donating $5,000 to The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum in Hannibal, Missouri, and PETA Vice President Dan Mathews will be there to unveil a plaque featuring a quote from Twain about animal experimentation:

Animals were integral to Twain's writing from his first stories through his final years, and many of his animal-related pieces are spotlighted in Mark Twain's Book of Animals.

If you're going to be in Hannibal on Saturday at noon, come join Dan (who cites Twain as an inspiration in his memoir, Committed) as he unveils PETA's plaque at The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum. With it in place, Twain's animal rights message will reach thousands of future visitors to the museum.

Written by Paula Moore