We suppose if there are folks who’d prefer a gaming laptop as their primary PC, then there must also be a market for portable gaming mice. But would you pay $115 for one?
For the first time ever, a whole lab-grown kidney has been successfully transplanted into a rat, where it allowed the creature to process urine like a really kidney would—and it could someday save your life. More »
Sure, we’ve seen rats control other rats, but that won’t give us a legion of mind-controlled creatures to unleash upon an innocent public, will it? Harvard Medical School may unwittingly assist with solving our (rather misguided) plight, as it just experimented with a system that lets a human mind trigger actions in a rat’s motor cortex. The test had sensor-equipped humans watch a screen that flashed in sync with their EEG brain patterns for visual stimulation; as soon their attention shifted to controlling the rat, they triggered an ultrasonic pulse that twitched the rodent’s tail. There’s a few problems with the implementation beyond the obvious lack of autonomy for the poor target creature, though. The rat’s anaesthetized state likely affected the results, and the system isn’t currently sophisticated enough to map specific thoughts to corresponding actions. The Harvard team is working to refine the technology, however, and there may be a day when we can satisfy our megalomania… or at least, put the Pied Piper on notice.
Via: New Scientist
Source: PLOS (PDF)
Some would say the internet already lets us share every minute detail of our thoughts, much to our followers’ dismay. Duke University isn’t deterred by our behavior — if anything, it just took oversharing literally by connecting two rats’ minds in an experiment, first in a lab and ultimately online. Electrodes attached to the brain of a host “encoder” rat in Brazil processed the motor-oriented mental activity for a desired behavior, such as pressing a lever on cue, and converted it into a signal that was then received by a “decoder” rat as far away as Duke’s US campus. The majority of the time, the decoder rat performed the same action as the encoder. Researchers also found that rewarding the encoder alongside the decoder created a virtuous loop, as treating the first rat for a job well done focused its attention and improved the signal strength.
We’re not sure that Vulcans would endorse this kind of mind meld, though: apart from immediately depriving the decoder rat of self-control, prolonged testing led to the same rodent developing additional sympathetic reactions to the encoder. There’s also concerns that the test was too binary and didn’t reflect the complexity of the whole brain. All the same, Duke’s study is proof enough that we can export brainwaves in a meaningful way.
Via: Discovery News
Source: Nature
Lab rats have it bad enough having to jump through hoops and perform in order to be studied, but now life just got worse for the furry rodents. Scientists at Japan’s Waseda University have created a robotic rat designed to terrorize their organic lab rats, inducing stress and depression so their reactions can be studied.
Scientists need to depress rats in order to do things like test drugs for depression. I guess it’s hard to make a rat depressed, but with a robot rat harassing them constantly, they will be sad sacks in no time. The robot can be programmed to chase or attack a rat, or can become its only source of food.
Talk about psychological torture. These rats will be really bummed out and soon they will fear robots just like us.
[via Gizmodo via IEEE Spectrum via Geekosystem]
Ever since Batman popularized the matte finish with his snazzy Batsuit, product designers have gone Bat-crazy over the finish choice. Today, Mad Catz pushes back on that new normal, re-introducing its R.A.T. line of gaming mice in three new, glossy colors: white, red, and (yes, another) black. That includes the entire R.A.T. line, from the R.A.T.3 to the M.M.O.7 and everything in between. And those new colors are already available from Mad Catz, anxiously awaiting wrapped boxes and new computers equipped with XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Oh the sectoids you’ll kill!
Continue reading Mad Catz R.A.T. mice get three new paint schemes just in time for the holidays
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals
Mad Catz R.A.T. mice get three new paint schemes just in time for the holidays originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
Mad Catz | Email this | Comments
Scientists have managed to build an artificial jelly fish entirely from rat cells, which can pulse and swim when exposed to an electric field, just like its living counterpart. More »
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
