A rat is impressing American scientists with her extraordinary intellect.
Hobbie-J has been dubbed the smartest rat in the world after its NR2B gene, which controls memory, was boosted as an embryo. The rodent can remember objects three times as long as its smartest peers and can better solve complicated puzzles like mazes.
The success of Hobbie-J, which is named after a Chinese cartoon character, brings new hope for future dementia patients, as it is thought the gene enhancement could one day be incorporated into a drug treatment for human brain disorders.
Independent (thanks, Tammy)
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That’s nothing Ratatouille could read recipes and cook!!!!
Until they start making mice that look like The Brain and speak like Orson Welles, I’m not interested.
Awe he is adoreable, looks just like my first rat Angel
It’s great to see there may be help out there for dimentia patients, it’s a terrible disease.
OOpsy, i first read: ´A rat is an impressing American scientists with her extraordinary intellect.´…
Also new hope for people who just want to be extra super smart even without dementia.
Well, I did not doubt the intellect of this one’s wild relatives.
Quite recently I needed to catch 3 of those, still nto full grown but just as big as Hobbie J. They know pretty well where to sit so that I can not get to them so well, but also, their brain patterns are at times predicteable, they indeed went into the little cabin when I chased them a few times around (10 x 3 m). And man, do they scream. No wonder, although they dont look that scared (eyes), it’s more as if they threaten me (well, they do jump at you but the younger ones attack energy is less strong and consequent than the full grown ones). Quite an adrenalin rush .. when one hangs above you … I mean .. I dont want them hang on my face or neck or such … At the same time sad I knew they were going to be free in a little while elsewhere, so catching them was not sad.
Its wild cousins are not really dumb without having boosted that specific gene. They really know where they need to sit when you need to catch them (I let them free elsewhere outside my birdcage .. quite recently 3 got in there through a hole). Amazing how they start to threaten you (me, huge human), and how they hollor and scream. But also amazing, and less bright perhaps (or lack of hope) .. that they in the end do what you wanted them to do (that is, go inside of a little wooden cabin). Wild rats above your head … quite an adrenalin rush … I’m sure they will not lick me when they fall on my face/neck … these wild ones ..
Not really related to this research but hey .. just made me think of it.
So medical science has done something good….This is no fun, where are all the horror stories? I want to see some rats doing backflips!
they should try that on crows! they’re already so smart, perhaps we could make them on par with humans (or close to it)… that would be cool
I, for one, welcome our new Rat Overlords.
I remember in school we had to read a book called ‘The Rats of NIMH’ It was about lab rats who were injected with a drug to make them more intelligent, and then taught to do things like read. They then worked out how to escape and started their own civillisation. The child in me is happy to see it possibly coming true.
I like the Rat that they control it’s mind with impulses and can, make him do things by remote control.
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s948847.htm
hey what about the rats in pinky and the brain…they tried to take over the world…alright they never suceeded but they had a damn good try
Is it wrong that the first word to jump out at me after smartest, and before extraordinary intellect was ‘her’??
its all very well saying “oh look at the clever rat” but its a lab rat thats being tested on…animal testing is wrong, they’re not the same as people so why other testing on animals for remedies for people…smart rat, stupid scientists