Hey, thanks! I haven't been around much lately (deadlines!), but that "genes for joy" video about tickling lab rats needed to be shared.

I'll be back with the best stuff I can find as soon as things lighten up here.

Fantastic! I just read this somewhere but the video is charming, but then I'm rather fond of rats. Another story this week about rats thinking like humans is here: http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/070309_rat_thinkers.html I want some of those "genes for joy"

The entire NY Times article is here.

From Panksepp's 2005 article in Science:

Although no one has investigated the possibility of rat humor, if it exists, it is likely to be heavily laced with slapstick. Even if adult rodents have no well-developed cognitive sense of humor, young rats have a marvelous sense of fun. We have already bred rats that exhibit playful chirping, and thereby hope to track down some of the genes for joy. Perhaps we will even stumble on new molecules to alleviate depression as well as some excessive-exuberance disorders.

That bolded sentence just kills me. (In a good way.)