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Rats' and bats' brains work differently on the move

A new study of brain rhythms in bats and rats challenges a widely used model - based on studies in rodents - of how animals navigate their environment. To get a clearer picture of the processes at work in ...

Neuroscience created Apr 18, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Going places: Rat brain 'GPS' maps routes to rewards

While studying rats' ability to navigate familiar territory, Johns Hopkins scientists found that one particular brain structure uses remembered spatial information to imagine routes the rats then follow. ...

Neuroscience created Apr 17, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study indicates reverse impulses clear useless information, prime brain for learning

(Medical Xpress)—When the mind is at rest, the electrical signals by which brain cells communicate appear to travel in reverse, wiping out unimportant information in the process, but sensitizing the cells ...

Neuroscience created Mar 19, 2013 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Where 'where it's at' is at in the brain: Study in rats identifies region that associates objects and space

Conventional wisdom in brain research says that you just used your hippocampus to answer that question, but that might not be the whole story. The context of place depends on not just how you got there, but ...

Neuroscience created Dec 05, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Learning a new sense: Scientists observe as humans learn to sense like a rat, with 'whiskers'

A Weizmann Institute experiment in which volunteers learned to sense objects' locations using just "rat whiskers" may help improve aids for the blind.

Neuroscience created Nov 05, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Intermittent binge drinking could cause significant brain impairment within months, research shows

A study of binge-drinking rodents suggests that knocking back a few drinks every few days may swiftly reduce one's capacity to control alcohol intake. Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) found signs of cognitive ...

Addiction created Oct 15, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Dark matter DNA active in brain during day-night cycle

(Medical Xpress)—Long stretches of DNA once considered inert dark matter appear to be uniquely active in a part of the brain known to control the body's 24-hour cycle, according to researchers at the National Institutes ...

Medical research created Sep 24, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Researchers devise a way to manipulate a rat's dreams

(Medical Xpress)—Cognitive scientists working at MIT have devised a means for not only altering the dreams of rats, but of demonstrating a way of testing what they've achieved, offering evidence that it can ...

Neuroscience created Sep 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Study shows omega-3 fatty acid, curry spice repair tissue damage, preserve walking in rats with spinal-cord injury

UCLA researchers discovered that a diet enriched with a popular omega-3 fatty acid and an ingredient of curry spice preserved walking ability in rats with spinal-cord injury. Published June 26 in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Sp ...

Neuroscience created Jun 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Researchers restore walking ability after spinal cord injury in rats

Rats with spinal cord injuries and severe paralysis are now walking (and running) thanks to researchers at EPFL. Published in the June 1, 2012 issue of Science, the results show that a severed section of the ...

Medical research created May 31, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (17) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Experimental bariatric surgery controls blood sugar with diabetic rats

For the first time, scientists at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute have shown that an experimental bariatric surgery can lower blood sugar levels in rats with type 1 diabetes.

Diabetes created May 20, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Reformulated imatinib eliminates morphine tolerance in lab studies

By reformulating the common cancer drug imatinib (Gleevec), researchers have eliminated morphine tolerance in rats – an important step toward improving the effectiveness of chronic pain management in patients, according ...

Medications created Feb 21, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

With training, a failing sense of smell can be reversed

In a new study scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center have shown that the sense of smell can be improved. The new findings, published online November 20, 2011, in Nature Neuroscience, suggest possible ways to reverse the lo ...

Neuroscience created Nov 20, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Source found for immune system effects on learning, memory

Immune system cells of the brain, which scavenge pathogens and damaged neurons, are also key players in memory and learning, according to new research by Duke neuroscientists.

Neuroscience created Oct 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Perinatal antidepressant stunts brain development

Rats exposed to an antidepressant just before and after birth showed substantial brain abnormalities and behaviors, in a study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Medical research created Oct 24, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Rat

50 species

Stenomys Thomas, 1910

Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus. Many members of other rodent genera and families are also called rats and share many characteristics with true rats.

Rats are typically distinguished from mice by their size; rats are generally large muroid rodents, while mice are generally small muroid rodents. The muroid family is very large and complex, and the common terms rat and mouse are not taxonomically specific. Generally, when someone discovers a large muroid, its common name includes the term rat, while if it is small, the name includes the term mouse - scientifically, the terms are not confined to members of the Rattus and Mus genera. Compare the taxonomic classification of the Pack rat and Cotton mouse.

For more information about Rat, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: brain , memory , neurons , hippocampus