Misbehaving lab mice meddle with scientific experiments
Lab mice deliberately make mistakes to annoy scientists conducting experiments.
Lab mice are purposefully making mistakes during experiments.
The rodents have been used in tests for hundreds of years but a new study has shown that they are prone to deliberately making errors and irritating scientists.
Dr. Kishore Kuchibhotla, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University in the US, told The Times newspaper: "It can be quite frustrating. You'll be doing an experiment and the (mice) just don't seem to be getting it. You've done everything correctly but they seem to be making lots of errors."
To give his theory further credence, Dr. Kuchibhotla and his graduate neuroscience student colleague Ziyi Zhu conducted an experiment that saw thirsty mice rewarded with a drink of water if they spun the wheel in the correct direction.
The pair are convinced that the mice knew what they were doing and deliberately gave up the chance of a reward so they could explore their environment.
Dr. Kuchibhotla said: "We find that when the animal is exploring, they engage in a really simple strategy, which is, 'I'm going to go left for a while, figure things out, and then I'm going to switch and go right for a while.'
"Mice are more strategic than some might believe."
