animal research
-
On eating plants.
In the mid-1800s, Claude Bernard – the “father of experimental physiology” – began a series of experiments to create carnivorous rabbits. Don’t worry: Bernard wasn’t cultivating predatory beasts like the angry rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. At first he was simply starving animals until their acidic urine indicated that they’d begun to…
animal experimentation, animal models, animal research, animal testing, animal welfare, bacterial influence on our minds, carnivorous rabbits, Claude Bernard, diet, Evolution of Diet Across the Animal Tree of Life, first multicellular animals, gut microbiome, heterotroph, Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine, meat-eating rabbits, microbiome, plant based, rabbits, Roman-Palaclos, Scholl, scientific research, vegan, vegetarian, we are not alone, Wiens -
On maternal bonds and cruelty.
We’ve all benefited from cruel research — so what do we do now?
animal activism, animal research, animal welfare, autism, baby monkeys, biomedical ethics, childhood, ethics, Harry Harlow, Harvard, John Gluck, Livingstone, macaque, Margaret Livingstone, maternal bond, medical ethics, monkey, monkeys, parenting, parenting advice, primate research, primates, research animals, research ethics, research macaques, research monkeys, rhesus macaque, rhesus monkey, science, scientific ethics, scientific research, separation at birth, trauma, Triggers for Mother Love, vegan, veganism, Voracious Science and Vulnerable Animals -
On birds watching.
We humans have massive brains, but will our kind be more successful than the dinosaurs?
animal cognition, animal communication, animal intelligence, animal research, animals, bird brains, bird cognition, bird intelligence, birds, brain soup, chickens, corvids, crow communication, crow facial recognition, crow intelligence, crows, dinosaur, dinosaur brains, dinosaur cognition, dinosaur intelligence, dinosaurs, evolution of birds, evolution of dinosaurs, extinction, facial recognition, how smart are birds, how smart were dinosaurs, jail, lab animals, laboratory animals, neuron counts, neuron density, oncology, pigeon, pigeon diagnosing biopsy, Suzana Herculano-Houzel, teaching in jail -
On growing up poor, and hamsters.
I recently read a cute article by Emily Underwood, “How to tell if your hamster is happy.” There is an easy answer, too. The hamsters in question are research animals, so the answer is, “No, they probably are not.” Of all the research animals I’ve interacted with, the only one that seemed happy was the narcoleptic…




