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Is altruism something that's unique to primates? Neuroscientists Peggy Mason and Inbal Ben-Ami Bartal decided to find out, using rats. What they discovered is these rodents will help each other escape from locked cages. They will even share their favorite food with rats. More »
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We recently learned that rats in Africa can use plant poison to kill lions, and their North American counterparts also have a few tricks up their sleeves. Woodrats eat so many different toxic plants, it's impossible to poison them. More »
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Revital Cohen is a designer who came upon an ad for rats engineered to be depressed, sold by Genoway. She couldn't stop thinking about these sad animal-commodities. So she decided to design cages that would cheer the rodents up. More »
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We submit for your viewing pleasure Animals In Rocket Flight, a 1953 Department of Defense film about mice and monkeys experiencing a harrowing rocket ride. Fast forward to 9:15 for zero gravity mice. [Public Resource via Airboyd] More »
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Earthworm Jim and Ghostopolis creator Doug TenNapel returns to "the dorky hero genre" with webcomic Ratfist, the absurd tale of a non-powered superhero who finds himself suddenly mutating. Oh, and he dresses like a rat. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5740194&view=rss&microfeed=true Researchers were able to defeat the constant ear-ringing disease tinnitus in rats. And they did it by recalibrating the rodents' brains with the noise. They stimulated a nerve in the rats' necks while playing specific tones over a long period of time. This retrained their brains to interpret that sound properly, reverting neurons back to their original state and preventing the constant maddening ringing from the disease. More »
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What's Morena Baccarin doing with that giant rat? And that baby? Here's an exclusive high-res image from tomorrow night's V episode, in which we finally get the rodent mistreatment we've wanted all along. Spoilers below. More »
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Twice a century, India is attacked by huge rat armies that devour crops in massive destructive waves and leave people without any food. Scientists long dismissed it as an urban myth...until they discovered that it really happens, and why. More »
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Eleven species of rodent that are entirely new to science were discovered in a cave in East Timor, but one species quite literally dwarfs all the rest - the biggest rat ever discovered, even larger than most modern house cats. More »
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The 20 residents of Canna once had 10,000 rats on their 5-mile-long island. Exterminators killed the last rat in 2006, but a new plague has descended upon Canna - the plague of bunnies. Night of the Lepus, anyone? More »
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Now that we know octopi like to play with cameras, it's time to investigate other forms of animal play. Did you know that rats laugh when you tickle them? This scientist has proof - and it's pretty damn cute. More »
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Transplanting small numbers of nerve cells directly into the brain has restored the learning ability of brain-damaged rats — and might be able to defeat the memory loss of Alzheimer's disease. More »
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For 200,000 years, life has flourished deep inside the crater of Mount Bosavi in complete isolation. Now a team of scientists has found it teeming with hairy caterpillars, fanged frogs, and the largest rats ever recorded. More »
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While we're celebrating the Year of the Rat, we should also take time to celebrate all the groovy developments in robotic rats we're likely to see this year. It's been six years since a group of researchers figured out how to direct a rat's movements with a brain implant and backpack controller (pictured). Recently, Chinese scientists announced they'd extended the technique to carrier pigeons. Now scientists have moved on to bigger and better ratbots. Find what's in store in the Year of the Ratbot. More »
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