Animal science

UCI MIND, the University of California, Irvine’s Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders, has announced a major breakthrough in its Alzheimer’s research: the creation of a mouse with active human brain cells that can be ethically tested in the ongoing race for a cure

Medical

Chimeric "mighty mouse" with human brain cells to advance Alzheimer’s research

Researchers have developed a transgenic mouse model with human brain immune cells. The breakthrough will let scientists observe how human brain cells respond to different Alzheimer’s-inducing toxic proteins, advancing our understanding into how neurodegenerative disease progresses.

A recent research project found that homing pigeons like to fly in pairs when they can, despite it costing them more energy

Biology

Homing pigeons are willing to spend more energy to travel in pairs

Birds flying together in formation can save substantial amounts of energy. But what’s good for the goose isn’t necessarily good for the gander, with scientists finding that for pairs of homing pigeons this approach actually costs them energy instead.

Autonomouse is claimed to be able run for over a year, with little human intervention

Science

Enriched mouse house may make for happier lab mice – and scientists

If you want to study a mouse's behaviour, then perhaps it isn't best to grab it and put it in a setting where it has to perform a certain task. That's the thinking behind Autonomouse, a cage that's designed to make life easier for lab mice, and to produce better results in behavioural studies.

New research suggests that the longer hermit crabs spend modifying their shells, the longer their penises are likely to be

Biology

Hermit crabs evolved long members to copulate from the comfort of home

In a new paper titled “Private parts for private property,” a curious Dartmouth College biologist describes an evolutionary phenomenon through which a famously staunch home-owner of the crustacean world is able to protect its living quarters.

A team at Endocrine Society has been testing the benefits of vibration in treating obesity

Health & Wellbeing

Augusta University finds whole-body vibration could mimic effects of exercise

Anyone unlucky enough to spend time watching late night TV will know ads for the Power Plate, a vibrating platform designed to speed up fat burning. A team at Endocrine Society has looked into whole-body vibration, and discovered the technique could mimic the effects of regular exercise.

The researchers say the phenomenon could be at play among other mammal populations, too

Biology

Poo pile to you, an information center to rhinos

Waste products seem to take on a special meaning in the animal kingdom. A new study has dug deeper into this phenomenon, examining rhino dung samples and finding that they serve as information centers to determine things like the sex, fertility, and territorial ambitious of the recently relieved.