REAL LIFE NEWS: HOW TO MAKE A MOUSE INTO A MONSTER
by Hazed
Scientists have discovered that if they zap a mouse’s brain with a laser, it immediately makes them aggressive. Yes, well, if someone fired a laser at my head I might get stroppy too…
They used a technique called optogenetics which makes specific neurons in the brain fire when they are stimulated with light, to activate neurons in the amygdala. This is a small region of the brain associated with memory, motivation, and emotions – including fear.
When the laser is off, the mice acted normally, walking around their cages casually, but as soon as the laser was turned on the rodents turned into aggressive hunters, pouncing on moving bug toys and live insects, taking bites out of them. They also attacked wooden sticks and bottle caps.
“We’d turn the laser on and they’d jump on an object, hold it with their paws and intensively bite it as if they were trying to capture and kill it,” said lead investigator Ivan de Araujo, coauthor of the paper and associate professor of psychiatry at Yale University.
However, the monster mice did not attack each other even when they were on their killing sprees. “The system is not just generalized aggression. It seems to be related to the animal’s interest in obtaining food,” de Araujo said.
Let’s hope this research is never extended to humans!
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/01/13/mice_laser_brain_killers/