There are some key details that this report left out: the methods and the actual benefits derived from its findings (spoiler: there were none).
In order for the rats to be “fitted” with the accelerometers, experimenters cut away the tissue on the rats’ heads and drilled five screws into each animal’s skull. Then they glued an accelerometer to the rats’ skulls with dental cement.
As for the benefits of this “discovery,” the authors state that their findings “…offer insights into the origins of music and dancing.” In other words, idle academic curiosity.
Institutional ethics committees are supposed to prevent pointless animal experimentation such as this from occurring. As is seen elsewhere, they far too often fail to do so.
Not buyin’ it. Looks like a rat doing what rats do. Nothing special about his movements.
Same here. I’ve been a rat minder for years and this isn’t strongly convincing to me.
There are some key details that this report left out: the methods and the actual benefits derived from its findings (spoiler: there were none).
In order for the rats to be “fitted” with the accelerometers, experimenters cut away the tissue on the rats’ heads and drilled five screws into each animal’s skull. Then they glued an accelerometer to the rats’ skulls with dental cement.
As for the benefits of this “discovery,” the authors state that their findings “…offer insights into the origins of music and dancing.” In other words, idle academic curiosity.
Institutional ethics committees are supposed to prevent pointless animal experimentation such as this from occurring. As is seen elsewhere, they far too often fail to do so.