Mary Bates, PhD

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New on AAAS: Let Sleeping Rats Twitch

High-speed video of sleeping newborn rats reveals rapid and complex twitching of their whiskers, in a rodent equivalent of rapid eye movements. Researchers say this discovery will help us better understand how spontaneous movements during sleep contribute to brain development in human babies as well as rat pups.Study: Whisker movements in rats shape brain development (pdf or link)