The humanized gene actually improved the animal’s behavior rather than messing up the system.
According to a new study, mice that receive a human version of a speech and language gene display accelerated learning. Don’t expect these findings to lead to a rush of smarter, “uplifted” animals—though they might just reveal something new and fascinating about the evolution of human speech and language.
Continue reading… “A mouse with a human speech gene learns faster”
“Now we can go inside the brain and change the way the mice reacts to a memory.”
Memories can be good, bad, or neutral. And now, they can be changed from good to bad, and vice versa, from within the brain—in genetically engineered mice, at least.
Continue reading… “Scientists turn bad memories into good ones in mice”
Blockade of p25 generation in the brain of an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model mitigates amyloid plaque buildup.
Symptoms of Alzheimer’s in mice have been reversed by limiting a certain protein in the brain, according to a report by neuroscientists at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory.
Continue reading… “Neuroscientists reverse symptoms of Alzheimer’s in mice”
What if we had the ability to turn back time? A team that has identified a new way in which cells age has also reversed the process in old mice whose bodies appear younger in several ways. The discovery has implications for understanding age-related diseases including cancers, neurodegenerative disorders and diabetes.
Continue reading… “Scientists reverse aging in mice”
With one dose, the brains of the mice grew normally and those mice showed learning abilities like that of their un-affected peers.
There has been good news in medicine recently. Not only is there a vaccine to prevent HIV/AIDS in the works, but scientists at John Hopkins University and the National Institutes of Health have also recently used a new drug to cure Down Syndrome in baby mice with just one dose. And although the drug has not yet been tested on humans, it still qualifies as an amazing achievement.
Continue reading… “New drug cures mice of Down Syndrome in a single dose”
Mice implanted with false memories.
U.S. and Japan memory researchers have, for the first time, implanted false memories into a lab animal. The researchers made mice believe that they had once received electrical shocks in their feet while sitting in a certain little chamber, even though that had never happened. Thereafter, whenever the researchers put the mice in that chamber, the mice would freeze up in a typical mouse response to fear.
Continue reading… “Scientists successfully implant false memories into mice”
Scientists clone 581 mice from one mouse.
Japanese scientists have taken cloning to a whole new level. They have managed to push the technique to new limits by cloning 581 mice – all from a single original cell. If their results can be replicated in other animals it could provide a way for virtually unlimited supplies of genetically superior farm animals or other animals important to research.
Continue reading… “Japanese scientists create 581 clones from the same mouse”
The presence of human cells made the mice’s brains function better.
Scientists discover that human brains cells transplanted into mice’s brains make the mice smarter. These results shed light on how important a certain overlooked class of brain cells are in human brains.
Continue reading… “Human brain cells make mice smarter”
Nanocapsules reduced the blood alcohol levels in the drunken mice.
Intoxicated mice were injected with a nanocapsule containing enzymes that are instrumental in alcohol metabolism. The nanocapsules reduced the blood alcohol levels in the mice. The treatment demonstrates a novel drug delivery technology that could have broad medical applications.
Continue reading… “Scientists sober up drunken mice with nanocapsules”
Researchers at NYU worry the mice they use to study human disease may have perished in the flooding caused by Superstorm Sandy.
It has been reported that the New York University Hospital has lost thousands of laboratory mice to Hurricane Sandy This will setback research that could take years to correct, according to scientists.
Continue reading… “Hurricane Sandy deals blow to medical research, wiping out NYU lab mice”
Skin cancer drug reverses Alzheimer’s in mice, is there hope for humans?
A laboratory study indicates that a drug commonly used to fight skin cancer could start to reverse Alzheimer’s disease in a matter of hours. Researchers have described the discovery as an “unprecedented finding” that holds out “the potential promise of a therapy for Alzheimer’s”.
Feisty little buggers.
The rodents of the future will eat poison pellets like candy, according to new research conducted on mice found in a German bakery. The baker called in an exterminator to rid his business of the pests and discovered, to his horror, that the little buggers weren’t even fazed by bromadiolone, which is a very concentrated and deadly version of the common rat poison warfarin…
Continue reading… “Eek! Mice are evolving an immunity to poison!”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
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