Überkinder!

In this corner, we have Baby Huey Luka from Georgia. However, the Germans (who else?) have apparently produced his genetically superior nemesis.

Somewhere in Germany is a baby Superman, born in Berlin with bulging arm and leg muscles. Not yet 5, he can hold seven-pound weights with arms extended, something many adults cannot do. He has muscles twice the size of other kids his age and half their body fat. DNA testing showed why: The boy has a genetic mutation that boosts muscle growth. The discovery, reported in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, represents the first documented human case of such a mutation.

[...]

The boy's mutant DNA segment was found to block production of a protein called myostatin that limits muscle growth. The news comes seven years after researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore created buff "mighty mice" by "turning off" the gene that directs cells to produce myostatin.

[...]

Researchers would not disclose the German boy's identity but said he was born to a somewhat muscular mother, a 24-year-old former professional sprinter. Her brother and three other close male relatives all were unusually strong, with one of them a construction worker able to unload heavy curbstones by hand. In the mother, one copy of the gene is mutated and the other is normal; the boy has two mutated copies. One almost definitely came from his father, but no information about him has been disclosed. The mutation is very rare in people.

The pictures above are at 28 days and 7 months. So far as I can tell from looking through the news wires, the article didn't include any current pictures (anybody with a NEJM subscription that could confirm that for me?). This being the first documented case, the implications for this kid's future health are anybody's guess.

Myostatin blocking has occurred naturally in certain breeds of cattle bred for muscularity and has been used in laboratory settings to produce "mighty mice" previously. The obvious therapy targets are for diseases like muscular dystrophy and wasting diseases like cancer and AIDS, along with muscle mass losses from broken bones in casts or zero gravity. But you know that every trainer and sports doctor in the country just sat up and took notice, too.