What happens when, for whatever reason, you feed both durian — the fruit with a smell that overpowers some people — and the painkiller paracetamol, mixed in rats, and from time to time take the rectal temperature of those rats? This study explores that question: “Hyperthermic effects of Durio zibethinus and its interaction with paracetamol,” […]
Tag: Rats
Rats Will Encounter Rat-Size People, and Vice Versa
Rats and people (or any two different size critters) can encounter each other on the same scale, virtually, under the scheme outlined in a new study. The image below demonstrates virtual rat-sized persons in a rat world. The study is: “Beaming into the Rat World: Enabling Real-Time Interaction between Rat and Human Each at Their […]
N. attenboroughii vs Rat
Newly Discovered Carnivorous Jungle Plant Gobbles Rats Whole Deep in the jungle primeval, Nepenthes attenboroughii awaits its furry prey. But N. attenboroughii isn’t a stealthy cat or poisonous lizard. It’s a plant, and it eats rats. So says a Popular Science article by Stuart Fox. The study formally announcing the discovery (of the plant, though […]
Grimaces of mice and men (and rats)
Scientists are interested in whether mice’s facial expressions can be used as an index of pain. To test the idea, they compared the Mouse Grimace Scale (pictured below) with more traditional behavioral measures in examining mice’s levels of discomfort after having surgery on their manhood—er, mousehood. “The Assessment of Post-Vasectomy Pain in Mice Using Behaviour and […]