"Initially they thought they were guinea-pigs but they quickly realised that in fact they were pioneers, " said Mr Cleaver.

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This generation was also full of guinea pigs for self-directed savings plans.

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Amazon uses its third-party sellers as guinea pigs to test new products, so that Amazon can steal their products.

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The 900 students arriving in Boston this summer for their two-year course were told they would be guinea pigs.

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Among the newcomers: Sons of Anarchy, a dark, gritty drama about a notorious motorcycle club, and Testees, a comedy about 30-somethings who earn their living as medical guinea pigs.

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The scientists showed this biological battery was indeed able to be run the radio device and detect the inner-ear environment for about five hours without compromising the guinea pigs' ability to hear.

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Some people do have bad trips, and even the most dedicated users admit concern: "We are a generation of guinea pigs for Ecstasy, " says Andrew, a 28-year-old in Hong Kong who began taking E five years ago.

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For day-to-day maintenance, keep a lookout for beauty schools: they need guinea pigs, you get freebies.

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' Furry little dassie (rock hyrax) scurry along the forest floor - incongruously, the animal's closest relatives are elephants, though they look more like overgrown guinea pigs.

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Zeneca ordered a "wet" copy of a promising gene, in the form of a clone -- a colony of bacterial cells whose members all carry the desired snippet of DNA. These bacterial guinea pigs can then be used to try out antibacterial chemicals.

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