Rat Love
Since yesterday’s post on the insula I’ve been pondering the consequences of tweaking the human brain. I remembered this older study that looked at monogamous prairie voles and rats. While the two share 99% of their genetic traits, the voles stick with the same partner for life. The rats… don’t. With St. Valentine’s day coming up, I thought that it might be good to consider how interwoven the different structures are in our brains.
Some addictions are disabling, but the treatment shouldn’t be.
So, for fun: This is a nice short overview:
http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20040021223042data_trunc_sys.shtml
The Economist also did a wonderful job of covering this study in depth:
http://www.oxytocin.org/oxytoc/love-science.html (This is a free reprint that I found, since the Economist’s site charges for access to their articles)
Neils Clark :: Jan.29.2007 :: Games ::
