Paging Mrs. Frisby
http://www.hplusmagazine.com/articles/neuro/making-smarter-rat
According to Science Daily, Hobbie-J was able to remember novel objects, such as a toy she played with, three times longer than the average Long Evans female rat, the smartest rat strain. Hobbie-J was also better at remembering which path she last traveled to find a chocolate treat.
Researchers from the Medical College of Georgia and East China Normal University developed Hobbie-J 's superior brainpower by transgenic over-expression of the NR2B gene, which in turn increased communication between NMDA receptor sites maybe a hundred milliseconds longer than normal, just enough to enhance learning and memory. NMDA receptors (and their NR2B subunits) are the controlling molecular structures for synaptic plasticity and memory.
According to Science Daily, Hobbie-J was able to remember novel objects, such as a toy she played with, three times longer than the average Long Evans female rat, the smartest rat strain. Hobbie-J was also better at remembering which path she last traveled to find a chocolate treat.
Researchers from the Medical College of Georgia and East China Normal University developed Hobbie-J 's superior brainpower by transgenic over-expression of the NR2B gene, which in turn increased communication between NMDA receptor sites maybe a hundred milliseconds longer than normal, just enough to enhance learning and memory. NMDA receptors (and their NR2B subunits) are the controlling molecular structures for synaptic plasticity and memory.