rats

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Paralyzed Rats Regain Ability to Pee

Breakthrough gives hope that it might restore bladder control in humans, too

(Newser) - Neuroscientists working with rats have pulled off a feat raising hopes that paralyzed people might someday be able to regain control of their bladders and ditch the catheter. The scientists grafted nerves from elsewhere in the rats' bodies to their severed spinal cords, and the rats eventually were able to...

Louisiana Is Shrinking, Thanks to Giant Swamp Rats

Beaver-like creatures behind vast erosion

(Newser) - When it comes to invasive species, Louisiana may have Florida and its giant snails beat: The state's beloved swampland is literally vanishing at the hands of gigantic swamp rats . Nutria—described by a documentarian tracking the creatures as "a cross between a beaver and a New York sewer...

Scandal in China: Rat Meat Sold as Lamb

Meat was allegedly covered in gelatin, red pigment, nitrates

(Newser) - Europeans freaking out about horse meat should take heart: It could be worse. Chinese authorities have taken down a crime ring accused of selling meat from a variety of animals—including rats, minks, and foxes—as lamb, in a scheme that raked in around $1.6 million, they announced yesterday....

NYC Subway Fights Rats —With Sterilization

ContraPest makes female rats infertile, if they eat enough of it

(Newser) - The rats of New York's subways have outfoxed poisons and traps alike, but now the MTA is ready to try out a new tactic—sterilization. Subway officials outlined a plan yesterday to use a sterilization product called ContraPest, which make females infertile by targeting ovarian follicles, reports the New ...

Scientists Link Brains of Two Rats
Scientists Link Brains
of Two Rats
Feb 28, 2013 4:25 PM CST

Scientists Link Brains of Two Rats

Signals from one affect the other, say researchers

(Newser) - It is, in the words of Wired , a "rodent mind meld." A Duke neuroscientist planted electrodes in the brains of two rats and discovered that signals from one could control the actions of the other, reports the New York Times . In one experiment, the rats were trained to...

9/11 Hearings Begin Today Amid Rats, Mold

Judge won't allow further delays to Guantanamo trial

(Newser) - The Guantanamo trial of five 9/11 suspects has already been postponed thanks to a tropical storm, religious observances, an Internet outage, and more—but an invasion of rats and mold isn't going to push it back any further. Pretrial hearings are set to begin today for alleged mastermind Khalid...

Thanks, Isaac: Mississippi Gets 16K Dead 'Swamp Rats'

Storm leaves behind dead nutria on the beaches

(Newser) - Isaac may not have been the storm of the century, but beach cleanup workers in Mississippi have a nasty task all the same: About 16,000 dead and bloated nutria—a rat-like rodent with the nickname "swamp rat"—have washed up in the aftermath, reports the local Sun ...

New Rat Discovered— and It Doesn't Gnaw

Paucidentomys vermidax eats earthworms

(Newser) - A unique new species of rat that lives off earthworms and doesn't chew or gnaw has been discovered in Indonesia. The shrew-like animal with a long, pointed snout was found in the forests of southern Sulawesi Island last year, and makes its debut in this week's British journal...

One of World's Last Rat-Free Zones Finds ... Rats

Alberta scrambles to stamp out Medicine Hat rats

(Newser) - Alberta has fought hard for more than 50 years to keep itself one of the few rat-free zones in the populated world, but that status could now be in danger. A rat colony has been found in a landfill near the town of Medicine Hat and authorities fear there could...

'Literary' Island Faces Bombing of Rat Poison

Italy plans to exterminate rats on Montecristo

(Newser) - Any buried treasure on the island of Montecristo will soon be covered in rat poison. Facing a massive rat infestation, Italian authorities plan to drop 26 tons of poison on the 4-square-mile island that inspired Alexandre Dumas' famous novel The Count of Monte Cristo, the Telegraph reports. Black rats may...

3-Foot Rat Speared in Brooklyn
3-Foot Rat Speared
in Brooklyn
Aug 26, 2011 2:22 AM CDT

3-Foot Rat Speared in Brooklyn

Worker at housing project kills rodent with a pitchfork

(Newser) - It's a rat that almost ate Brooklyn. But a Housing Authority worker speared the three-foot-long rodent (including tail)—with a pitchfork, reports the New York Daily News . Experts believe the creature is likely a Gambian pouched rat , which is sometimes kept as a pet—but perhaps more at home...

Australia Fighting Rats —With Rats

Native species summoned to take out non-native invaders

(Newser) - In the what-could-possibly-go-wrong department: Australia hopes to rid the Sydney Harbour area of black rats by introducing a different species of rat into the area, reports Reuters . The black rats are non-native invaders that probably arrived by ship 200 or so years ago, and they're a huge nuisance near...

Rat Crawls on NYC Subway Rider's Face

Welcome to Gotham

(Newser) - Ew. When someone brags about improved quality of life in New York, pull out this video. One of the many rats who share space with the city's thousands of daily commuters frantically scurries about a subway car as another rider films him. Passengers watch, sometimes lifting their feet to avoid...

1K Rats Found in Hoarder's Home

And you thought you needed to clean your closet out...

(Newser) - Close to 1,000 rats have been rescued from a Los Angeles man's home featured on A&E's reality show, Hoarders. The Humane Society has relocated the rats to San Jose, where they are being temporarily housed at a pet shop until they can be adopted. A previous owner's daughter...

This Rat Could Provide Your Next Fur Coat

 This Rat Could Provide 
 Your Next Fur Coat 
eco-friendly fur?
Apr 27, 2010 11:32 AM CDT

This Rat Could Provide Your Next Fur Coat

Somehow, we doubt PETA is convinced

(Newser) - Good news, eco-conscious fashionistas: You may soon be able to don real fur responsibly. The downside? It comes from a rat. The nutria, to be exact, a semi-aquatic South American rat that grows to more than 2 feet long and can reach 20 pounds. Thanks to the fact that the...

Rats Laugh When Tickled
 Rats Laugh When Tickled 
viral video
Apr 2, 2010 12:02 PM CDT

Rats Laugh When Tickled

And guess what? They like it!

(Newser) - A YouTube gem from 2007 is making the rounds again, teaching us something kind of neat and kind of gross: Rats laugh when tickled. When a Bowling Green University professor decided to try tickling the rodents, and then listening to their resulting high-frequency noises on a “bat detector,”...

I'm a Celeb Contestants Charged in Rat-Eating


 I'm a Celeb 
 Contestants 
 Charged in 
 Rat-Eating 
I'm a rat, get me out of here!
Dec 6, 2009 9:05 AM CST

I'm a Celeb Contestants Charged in Rat-Eating

Animal-rights activists not amused by stunt

(Newser) - Turns out that killing and eating a rat on I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here was a bad idea on many levels—including the animal cruelty charges that two contestants are now facing. Series winner and chef Gino D'Acampo and actor Stuart Manning are facing charges in Australia...

Gas Fumes May Pump Up Road Rage

Study finds link to increased aggression in rats

(Newser) - If filling the gas tank fills you with rage, it might be the fumes you're breathing, not the prices you're paying. A new study shows rats exposed to gasoline fumes became more aggressive, with repeated exposure altering their brain structures—a finding that could also apply to humans and road...

Paralyzed Rats Run in Breakthrough Experiment

Application for humans with spinal injuries not far off

(Newser) - Scientists have made paralyzed rats run again by using a new technique that could one day have wheelchair-bound people walking, reports AFP. Rats, whose spinal cords had been severed, ran when scientists applied electrical charges and drugs. "In some cases they actually walked with more consistent locomotive patterns than...

Giant Rat Found in 'Lost Volcano'

Fanged toads, mini 'Ewoks' among species discovered in New Guinea jungle

(Newser) - A new species of giant rat with no fear of humans has been discovered in a volcanic crater deep in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. It's the same kind of rat "you find in city sewers"—except it's 32 inches long, said a scientist traveling with a...

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