 Rats love to Drive
Dr. Kelly Lambert of the University of Richmond put rats to the task--the task of learning how to drive a car. She and her team of scientists developed a car that rats could drive. She experimented with seeing how long it took the rats to learn to drive to get Froot Loops and how much they enjoyed it. It didn't take the rats long and they wanted to drive even without receiving the cereal.
The rats wish it was this car! Here's the real car
To drive the car, the rats placed their paws on bars that completed an electrical circuit. The bars turned the car left or right or moved it forward. The car stopped when the rat released the bar. Each time, the rats had to drive the car further and further to reach the cereal.
The experiment included two different groups of rats. One group that lived in an interesting environment, with ladders and treadmills, and another group that lived in a boring home of only a laboratory cage. The rats who lived in the interesting environment learned to drive sooner. But all the rats wanted to drive and all had less stress when they did.
Of course, I wonder how the rats would do if the scientists put them all on the road at once and they had to get to an 8:00 a.m. meeting.
Should we teach Larry and the gang to drive?
 Bibliography
Gitlin, Jonathan M., and Utc. “Rats Love Driving Tiny Cars, Even When They Don't Get Treats.” Ars Technica, 1 Nov. 2019, arstechnica.com/science/2019/11/these-rats-learned-to-drive-tiny-cars-for-science/.
Katz, Brigit. “Scientists Taught Rats to Drive Tiny Cars to Earn Froot Loops.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 25 Oct. 2019, www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/rats-will-drive-tiny-cars-get-froot-loops-180973406/.
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