http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png http://io9.com/tag/mice http://io9.com/tag/mice

Scientists have found out that memory comes in little packets, and they have found that out by making mice believe that they've been teleported. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5844552&view=rss&microfeed=true

Mice are energetic little buggers, which is bad news for scientists who want to get a look at their brains while they're scurrying around. But at last, researchers have perfected a high-powered, miniaturized fluorescent microscope that can be mounted on a mouse's head and used to monitor the activity of as many as 200 brain cells while the mouse goes about its business. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5839972&view=rss&microfeed=true

For anyone who has to deal with rodent infestations, getting rid of the small, gnawing animals can be rough — so much so that many people immediately head for poison. However, it's not quite as easy as that. Some mice have obtained immunity to Warfarin, a common rodent poison, via a very unusual route: horizontal gene transfer. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5822780&view=rss&microfeed=true

Your body responds to stress in many ways. It gives you bursts of energy, and a reduced response to pain. It lets you run faster and farther. It also entirely messes you up. Stress releases a battery of hormones that give you superhuman abilities, and they all have down sides. Many of them result in bone density loss or reduced immune response, but one, the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) is a really nasty customer. It's been linked with severe gastrointestinal problems, increased drug use, and hair loss. A recent research group tried to cure the first of those symptoms, but stumbled into curing the third. At least in mice. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5762701&view=rss&microfeed=true

In unholy-army-of-the-night news, scientists have a new way to turn swarming beasts of the sea into unreasoning killers. Nothing is safe from their merciless aggression. Not . . . even . . . you. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5757520&view=rss&microfeed=true

The hero in Memento had a certain condition that prevented him from making new memories. He couldn't remember the start of a conversation by the end of the conversation. He couldn't remember who a person was, if that person had introduced themselves to him a few minutes before. When he learned a new fact, or phone number, he had to repeat it obsessively until he could write it down. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5749064&view=rss&microfeed=true

We can't resist cuteness of this magnitude! These Star Wars mice are the sort of thing you'll buy as presents for your friends... and then wind up hoarding them for yourself. Plus check out Harry Potter and Hermione mice! More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5697804&view=rss&microfeed=true

Mice are also susceptible to obsessive-compulsive disorder, resulting in constant grooming that leaves them hairless and sore. Now some obsessive-compulsive mice were treated by replacing their bone marrow, demonstrating the first cause-and-effect link between the immune system and mental illness. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5547672&view=rss&microfeed=true

Mice make dramatic faces when they're in pain, and now their expressions have been cataloged scientifically on a "mouse grimace scale" (pictured below). A paper published in Nature Methods yesterday explains the ways researchers hurt mice, and why. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5535479&view=rss&microfeed=true

A new study shows that mice — and probably humans — mammals have the onboard capacity to make their own painkillers. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5526309&view=rss&microfeed=true

Your desire to lie around the house isn't because you're a slacker: it's in your genes. New research from scientists at the University of North Carolina shows that there's finally a good reason why some people would rather read comic books and play video games all day than, say, go run a marathon. According to kinesiologist Timothy Lightfoot and colleagues, there's a set of at least 23 genes that control the drive to be physically active in mice. Though he's yet to run the same genetic tests on humans, Lightfoot says he has reason to believe it will hold true for us, too. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5026265&view=rss&microfeed=true

Mice and bats like this one share a genetic ancestor, and now they may become one species again. Yesterday, scientists announced they'd engineered mice with proto-bat wings. Researchers added bat genes to the mouse genome, and the results were "mice with abnormally long forelimbs." Those long limbs are the first evolutionary step towards wings. More importantly, towards mice with wings. Or people. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=345397&view=rss&microfeed=true

No mouse should look into that "I'm gonna chomp you" face and not run squeaking in the other direction. And yet a mouse has done it, thanks to a team of Japanese researchers who genetically engineered it to not fear cats. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=333892&view=rss&microfeed=true