User:Cap'n Refsmmat/ScienceNews/January 12, 2005

Rat—the Fighter Pilot
Now, you’re probably saying “What?” But seriously, rat bits can pilot an airplane—actually, an F-22 Raptor.

Scientists placed 25,000 rat neurons in a dish and inserted an electrode array connected to the simulator. The cells then receive electrical pulses which indicate the angle of the plane’s nose above or below the horizon. The neurons’ response controls the airplane.

At the start, the plane was zooming up and down. After a while, the rat brain managed to “learn” and began to pilot the airplane steadily.

Don’t worry; rats won’t be taking over the Air Force any time soon.

Source: Discover Magazine

Rat—the Linguist
That’s right. Rats can also, among their many talents, determine the difference between several languages.

Researchers trained rats to respond to Dutch or Japanese (some rats did one, the other rats did the other language) and then get a treat.

The rats were then separated into several groups, where they listened to the language either by a native speaker, a synthesized voice, both languages, or finally, either one backwards. The rats did not respond to the opposite language or either language backwards.

Source: MSNBC News

Maybe that’s why rats are so hard to get rid of. They’re smarter than we thought.