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Rats move to beat of Lady Gaga, study says
Issued on: 15/11/2022 - 08:16
Modified: 15/11/2022 - 08:14
Researchers at the University of Tokyo played Mozart, Queen and Lady Gaga's hit 'Born This Way'
to rats ANGELA WEISS AFP
Tokyo (AFP) – Nodding along to catchy music is not just a human habit, according to Japanese scientists who have discovered that rats also move to the beat of songs by stars like Lady Gaga.
What does that say about the quality of her fans?
Researchers at the University of Tokyo played Mozart, Queen and Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" to rats wearing miniature sensors to detect even the tiniest movements.
They found the rodents had an innate ability to synchronise their moves to the beat, previously believed to be a skill unique to people.
I thought parrots also had this ability.
"Rats' brains are designed to respond well to music," even though their bodies move only a little, said associate professor Hirokazu Takahashi, part of the team who conducted the study.
"We all believe that music has magical powers, but we don't know anything about its mechanisms," he told AFP on Tuesday.
So "we wanted to find out what kind of sound connections appeal to the brain, without the influence of emotion or memory."
For rats, the "bopping" effect was most pronounced for music in the range of 120-140 beats per minute -- the same as humans.
This led the scientists to hypothesise that it could be a reaction that is consistent across different species.
Rats were found to have an innate ability to synchronise their moves to the beat, previously believed
to be a skill unique to people NICOLAS DELAUNAY AFP/File
"Music moves the body. It goes beyond the auditory system and affects the motor system... the power of sound is that great," Takahashi said.
The research mainly focused on Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K.448, played at four different tempos.
But the scientists also tried out "Born This Way" and the driving rhythm of Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust", tracks picked by Takahashi's students.
Unlike other pets such as parrots, which are famous for their uncanny imitations of music and other sounds, it was the first time the rats in the study had listened to music.
The effect of music on rats may have been overlooked until now because previous research was mainly carried out using video footage, not movement sensors, making the animals' tiny movements more difficult to detect, Takahashi said.
Sounds like it would be really boring to watch them dance.
The study was published last week in the peer-reviewed Science Advances journal.
In the future, Takahashi said he wants to go beyond rhythm and explore the effects of melody and harmony on the brain.
"If music has an emotional effect, it would be really interesting if we could get to the point where we could see it in animals," he said.
It appears they haven't read The Pied Piper in Japan.
Massive bee swarm leaves 37 people including eight children
in hospital as angry insects fly through car windows
Natalia Penza
Published: 9:25, 18 Nov 2022, Updated: 11:34, 18 Nov 2022
NEARLY 40 people were treated in hospital after being attacked by a swarm of bees.
Terrified locals abandoned their cars in the middle of the street after the insects flew through car windows in moving traffic.
Drivers abandoned their cars as the swarm hit traffic in Melo, Uruguay
Beekeepers were called in to destroy illegal hives
Some victims were stung dozens of times as they tried to flee on foot.
The swarm hit yesterday afternoon in the centre of Melo, a city in Uruguay near the border with Brazil.
Police confirmed 37 people including eight children were rushed to A&E for treatment.
Officers took many of the patients to hospital in their patrol cars as colleagues closed streets in the city centre to make sure no one else entered the danger zone.
One of those caught up in the drama told local press: “My son ran like mad but he still got stung about 15 times.
“Many people were in a state of desperation.
“They abandoned motorbikes and cars. I had my car windows down when a swarm of bees appeared out of nowhere and came in.”
The scare has been blamed on two hives of bees said to have been kept without permission at a house near the spot where motorists and pedestrians were stung.
Beekeepers in protective suits were called in to remove the hives using poison and make the area safe.
One of the experts who helped remove them said: “People were kept away for around an hour.”
Local journalist Silvia Techera said: “I saw people running everywhere and heard lots of sirens.
“Shopkeepers were closing their doors.
“I never imagined for one minute it was going to be down to bees. They appeared to be very angry.
“Cars, motorbikes and crash helmets had been left in the middle of the street.
“At one point the insects began to attack me as well and I sought refuge in my radio station.”
It was not immediately clear today why the bees had gone on the attack, but experts said they could have been stressed by noises like the beeping of a car horn.
Two of the children stung are understood to have been kept in hospital overnight.
A severe allergic reaction to bee stings is potentially life-threatening. A small percentage of people stung by a bee quickly develop anaphylaxis with symptoms including swelling of the throat and tongue.
In May we told how a swarm of 15,000 bees sparked terror as they filled a residential street in just 15 minutes in Tyneside, UK.
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