Singing Mice
Alston's Singing Mice live in cloud forests in Costa Rica. These mice "sing" to each other in a rapid fashion similar to human conversation. New studies are showing that these mice use two different parts of their brains for these conversations. Scientists have discovered that the orofacial motor cortex (OMC) controls conversation speeds, length, and response time. When drugs were used to alter the capabilities of the OMC, mice were not able to converse as well as they had before.
I think this was a really interesting study. Being able to locate the different parts of the brain that controlled speech in mice creates hope that this can be done for humans in a more precise manner. Of course, this will not line up perfectly with the human brain since the study was done on mice. However, this is hopefully a step in the right direction for researching disorders that reduce the ability to converse, and maybe even finding treatments or cures.
Article: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/singing-mice-duets-brain-patterns-human-speech
I think this was a really interesting study. Being able to locate the different parts of the brain that controlled speech in mice creates hope that this can be done for humans in a more precise manner. Of course, this will not line up perfectly with the human brain since the study was done on mice. However, this is hopefully a step in the right direction for researching disorders that reduce the ability to converse, and maybe even finding treatments or cures.
Article: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/singing-mice-duets-brain-patterns-human-speech
I never heard of this but glad I did haha. This world becomes more fascinating each and every day with singing mice and the fact that our dogs and us share similar personality traits without even realizing. However, I do agree with you that with these specific ideas and processes, it could even find treatments or cures.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing that scientists are beginning to learn how more animals communicate and makes me hopeful that information gained from these discoveries will assist in finding even more characteristics of unique animals. I have heard of the ways in which scientists discovered how dolphins and birds communicate but I haven't heard of many other species and their forms of interacting through sounds.
ReplyDeleteThis is kind of like a fairy tale come to life, singing mice. It's interesting to know that discoveries that may seem little to most people will actually prove to be huge in the future.
ReplyDeleteI think the part of this that I find the most interesting is the fact that scientists put drugs into mice. But it is also extremely cool that mice can have conversations in a very similar way to humans.
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy how much scientists use mice for in research. I never expected that mice would ever be used to research social anxiety or human disorders.
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