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Scientists' Mouse Fight Club
An anonymous reader writes "To study how aggression, fighting, and winning change the brain, scientists set up a tournament of mice fights. They watched as the lab rodents took a break from their hum-drum existence and battled it out (however, the researchers broke the first rule of Fight Club by publishing a paper about their findings [abstract]). They found clear evidence of the 'winner effect,' in which a mouse that has just won a fight maintains elevated levels of testosterone and aggression, and is therefore more likely to win the next bout. Interestingly, the winner effect was strongest in mice that were fighting in their own cages — i.e., those that had home-field advantage."
I think so, Brain, but if you ask me that one more time I'm going to kick your ass! NARF!
The second rule of fight club is you DO NOT squeak about fight club. (Ugh...)
I mean, surely if cockfighting or dogfighting is illegal...
I could totally take a bunch of mice. Can't wait to get ripped from all the extra testosterone.
Similes are like metaphors
Is this the precursor to the rage virus?
I think it would do society some good to take the blinders off and have a look at female aggression and it's consequences...
Cat Fight!!!
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
I know I'm not supposed to talk about it, but I once saw Mickey take on Mighty. Now, I put my money on Mighty. But, the bout was at Disney World. Mickey won in less than a minute. Then, all hopped up on testosterone, he basically took Jerry's head off in the next match.
I have seen stuff man. I was there. I have memories. Bad, bad memories.
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
the romans did this with prisoners / gladiators so why do we need to do this now with Mouses?
I fully support this. Especially if mud is involved.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
Because the Romans weren't conducting a controlled scientific experiment? Because the Romans didn't write down their findings, nor were they attempting to answer a scientific question to begin with? Because what we know about gladiator fights is limited and uncertain?
I can't think of an analogy for how stupid this is; that's how stupid it is.
How did they get them to fight?
The tricky part was getting the little gloves and silk shorts on them.
So, these mice basically got a false sense of confidence that might have gotten themselves a boost, and managed to avoid better fighters in the process.
But, if the fights hadn't been fixed, they would have lost handily to the, er, undermouse.
Definitely sounds like real boxing to me. :-P Wake me up when one mouse wins by tap-out.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I see in fight club the strongest and smartest mice who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squeaking. God damn it, an entire generation running mazes, growing ears on their backs; slaves with white fur. Advertising has us chasing cheese and water, working jobs we hate so we can live in cages too big for our needs. We're the middle children of history, mouse. No purpose or place. We have no Great Plague, No Great Famine. Our Great Plague's injected in labs... our Great Famine is our own thirst for the wild sewers. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be living in piles of garbage, and mating sporadically, and following along the bottoms of walls to bigger piles of garbage. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.
Well, that just sounds like sour dough to me. I don't see any way they could have performed this experiment any more ethically. I mean I don't want to seem rye, but understanding how mice brains work, which gives us a little knowledge of how our own brains work, is hugely valuable to humans and is worth a little cruelty (as little as necessary mind you).
P.S. Have you tried it with falafel?
Well first, you have to pour each of them over a half dozen tiny mouse beers ...
I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.
You should seek mental health. Many people who lived to be miserable and grumpy started out by not having a sense of humor.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on