I taught rats to drive a car, and it may help us lead happier lives (BBC)

[Jason]

Here's an interesting article from the BBC. I hadn't heard of this research before.

As a neuroscientist who advocates for housing and testing laboratory animals in natural habitats, I've found it amusing to see how far we've strayed from my lab practices with this project. Rats typically prefer dirt, sticks and rocks over plastic objects. Now, we had them driving cars.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20241128-i-taught-rats-to-drive-a-car-and-it-may-help-us-lead-happier-lives

[buster]

Loved this article Jason. Rich environments, delayed rewards, other rats around helped learning. Same for humans. Excellent easy read.

[Jason]

Glad you enjoyed it. Even the lowest of animals can astound. When they mentioned more excited content rats holding their tails up higher it reminded me of cats. You can tell a cat's mood by how high it's held if it's moving and how. Makes me wonder what we'd be like if we had tails. Would we express our feelings with them, likely knocking things off nearby shelves in the process?