Funny science mysteries (part 2)

What do animals dream of? Scientists found that, like humans, when sleeping, the animal's brain " rewinds " what they spent during the day.

When Spot poked his feet in a futile race to the infinity of sleeping, perhaps he was recalling his favorite game of the morning or the most recent attempts to catch a squirrel. Scientists found that, like humans, things that happen in the animals' brains when they are sleeping reflect what they did that day.

In the lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, neuroscientists Matthew Wilson and colleagues implanted electrodes in the mouse's brain to record what happened when they closed their eyes. First, Wilson observes mouse brain activity when they run through a labyrinth and then they begin to sleep.

As a result, hippocampus reactions in the brain (the area that is primarily responsible for the formation of memory) are similar to the pattern recorded as when they were in the labyrinth. At the same time, the visual cortex responds to the same frequency, demonstrating how the sleeping mouse not only remembers how it hustled through the labyrinth, but also what was seen - all all in the same order that happened.

But the maze is not the only thing that rats dream about. Wilson's team also recorded many unspecified brain activities, which they thought were memories of their "rest" times in the stable or chatting with other friends.

The rewind of the day's events, according to Wilson, may be a way for animals and humans to learn from them, and from there to make better choices in the future.

Funny science mysteries (part 1)

* more

T. An