In an astonishing blend of robotics and nature, SMEO—a robot rat designed by researchers in China and Germany — is fooling real rats into treating it like one of their own. What sets SMEO apart is its ...

Editor’s Note: This is part of a series called Inside the Lab, which gives audiences a first-hand look at the research laboratories at the University of Chicago and the scholars who are tackling some ...

Getting a rat to run a maze is a lot easier. Granted, designing and building the maze takes a lot of upfront effort. But once that’s done, the lab technician can go home. Just put a piece of cheese at ...

Rats are incredibly nimble creatures. They can climb up curtains, jump down tall ledges, and scurry across complex terrain—say, your basement stacked with odd-shaped stuff—at mind-blowing speed.

Here's a sad thought for you: The rat robot (ratbot?) in the photo above was created solely to bully real rats until they're depressed. This might sound like the work of a sadistic behavioral ...

Specific cells in rats’ brains mark distant places to avoid after negative experiences, and rats think of these locations even after they leave Researchers find that rats create neurological maps of ...