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Flipboard Science Desk

Last week, we had a story about scientists who put bats on a treadmill. This week, a neuroscientist teaches rats to drive. And they love it!

From @ConversationUS: "We crafted our first rodent car from a plastic cereal container. After trial and error, my colleagues and I found that rats could learn to drive forward by grasping a small wire that acted like a gas pedal."

flip.it/kYvhJ6

And here's the treadmill bats story ICYMI: sciencenews.org/article/vampir

The ConversationI’m a neuroscientist who taught rats to drive − their joy suggests how anticipating fun can enrich human lifeEquipped with a rodent version of a Cybertruck, these driving rats reveal that positive experiences may sculpt the brain just as powerfully as stressful ones
#Animals#Rats#Bats

@ScienceDesk @ConversationUS I am not sure teaching more species to drive is exactly what this planet needs.

"Rat lessons on enjoying the journey
Research has also shown that desirable low-stress rat environments retune their brains’ reward circuits, such as the nucleus accumbens. When animals are housed in their favored environments, the area of the nucleus accumbens that responds to appetitive experiences expands. Alternatively, when rats are housed in stressful contexts, the fear-generating zones of their nucleus accumbens expand. It is as if the brain is a piano the environment can tune."

@ScienceDesk @ConversationUS

@ScienceDesk @ConversationUS "These upgraded electrical ROVs – featuring rat-proof wiring, indestructible tires and ergonomic driving levers – are akin to a rodent version of Tesla’s Cybertruck."

So they made an overpriced, poorly-engineered, fragile, dumpster-shaped vehicle for rats? Seems like a less than optimal use of someone's time... but it's a free country I guess.

@ScienceDesk I don’t know the precise definition, but as far as I understand, you have now crossed over to Mad Science.

@ScienceDesk @ConversationUS News from the future:
- "Rats soon learned they could obliterate rival rat gangs by driving through them while flipping them off."
- "Rats were also taught to operate cell phones while driving, leading to an infestation of traffic accidents"

@ScienceDesk @ConversationUS
Did you guys hear about the elephant that figured out how to use a hose? And it's friend bends it as a trick?! Animals are so great and clever!!

@ScienceDesk @ConversationUS @Tooden love this idea "#behaviorceuticals, a term I coined to suggest that experiences can alter brain chemistry similarly to pharmaceuticals"

@ScienceDesk

This finding supported the idea that complex environments enhance neuroplasticity: the brain’s ability to change across the lifespan in response to environmental demands.

There’s interesting implications for any other species, including Homo sapiens, from this observation.

@ConversationUS