Posted by Armadillo under blog's category : Research & medical benefits

Until now rats have trailed behind mice in terms of numbers used, and the gap has been getting ever wider due to the boom in the use of genetically modified mice. But this could all change thanks to recent innovations in genetic techniques on rats.

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Posted by Armadillo under blog's category : Communications & media

Animals have been used to understand the inner workings of the brain since the very beginnings of neuroscience. Famously, Leonardo da Vinci injected the brain of a freshly killed ox with melted wax to reveal its complex inner workings.

Portraits of the Mind: Visualizing the Brain from Antiquity to the 21st Century by Carl Schoonover reveals the latest science of brain imaging through sumptous pictures.

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Posted by Armadillo under blog's category : Research & medical benefits

Smoking or drinking while pregnant can damage the unborn child. Toxic chemicals such as alcohol, nicotine and carbon monoxide enter the mother's bloodstream and then pass through the umbilical cord to the growing baby. But less obvious are the effects of the mother's lifestyle choices on a baby before it is even conceived.

So far, there is no clear advice about how we can live to reduce health risks to the next generation, but no doubt in another decade or so it won't just be cigarettes and alcohol that are on the banned list.

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