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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Photo: Rats Smell in Stereo, Study Says


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This still from a video clip shows a trained rat undergoing a test to determine if rats can smell in stereo. The rats sniffed odors piped through a hole in the center of a chamber wall. If the odor came from the left, the rat would drink from the left waterspout. If the smell came from the right, the rat drank from the right spout.

Once trained, rats in the study could determine the direction of a smell in as little as 50 milliseconds with at least 80 percent accuracy. The find provides insight into the spatial dimension of smell and the speed at which the brain operates.

Image courtesy Science