Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have been testing the possibility that a blue food dye found in Gatorade and blue M&Ms could assist in healing spinal cord injuries, and oh who cares OMG blue rats look!
posted by XQUZYPHYR on Jul 29, 2009 - 51 comments

Rats who trade stocks [more inside]
posted by rottytooth on May 12, 2009 - 23 comments

For millions of years man and rats had been natural enemies. But now for the first time - suddenly, shockingly, horribly - the balance of power had shifted. The Rats by James Herbert. [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry on May 7, 2009 - 33 comments

For your viewing pleasure, a rat staring contest.
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Feb 25, 2009 - 29 comments

"Once every 48 years, forests of the bamboo known as Melocanna baccifera go into exuberant flower in parts of northeast India [a process called Mautam]. And then, like clockwork, the event is invariably followed by a plague of black rats that spring from nowhere to spread destruction and famine in their wake. For the first time on film, NOVA and National Geographic capture this massive rat population explosion in the kind of vivid detail not possible in 1959, when the last invasion occurred." Airing tonight at 8PM on your local PBS station, or catch it online here beginning tomorrow.
posted by billysumday on Feb 24, 2009 - 47 comments

Scientists Discover 21st Century Plague? Bartonella bacteria, spread by the brown rat, Europe's largest and most common rodent, are considered emerging zoonotic pathogens because they have the potential to transmit human disease worldwide, including heart disease and nervous system infections. [more inside]
posted by terranova on Nov 24, 2008 - 11 comments

Basketball rats. So the folks at the Finnish Science Centre Heureka have trained rats to play basketball.
Any tame rat can learn to play basketball, but brave rats which are relaxed playing in front of an enthusiastic audience will be the best professionals!
Video here and more here. Via TrueHoop.
posted by i_cola on Oct 22, 2008 - 18 comments

Rise of the rat-brained robots. [Via]
posted by homunculus on Aug 15, 2008 - 39 comments

Fear of rats is one of the most common specific phobias. Perhaps this is related to their historical role as carriers of disease including the spread of the Black Death. Nonetheless, many people believe that rats can make excellent pets. Unless, of course, you're feeding hundreds of them in the heart of Pacific Palisades.
posted by Slothrup on Aug 2, 2008 - 72 comments

The only thing cooler than playing D&D is listening to recordings of people playing D&D! Tycho and Gabe from Penny Arcade and Scott Kurtz of PvP got together with a couple of Wizards of the Coast guys for an episodic D&D romp to promote the upcoming release of D&D 4th edition. The first episode (and pictures!) is available online. Enjoy!
posted by xorry on May 30, 2008 - 53 comments

If these three can do it, there must be hope for the middle east. Sorry for the single video post, but it's just too awesome.(via bb)
posted by Large Marge on May 22, 2008 - 33 comments

Be off, ye hopeful mouse, but mind yourself;
Icarus were the friend of honeybees,
On borrowed wings he sought his own relieve,
And in the sun of his exub'rant flight,
His friendships' worth was counted not a mite.

A lost play of Shakespeare? No. Even better! An adaptation of "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" in five acts of blank verse. This is why I love the Internet.
posted by grumblebee on Mar 2, 2008 - 29 comments

The Los Angeles Police Department are enlisting feral cats for rat patrol at police stations that are experiencing rodent problems. These hardworking kitties -- part of the Working Cats Program -- are doing a stellar job keeping the rat population in check.
posted by porn in the woods on Dec 28, 2007 - 15 comments

Transgendered women in lingerie made from taxidermied rats. NSFW unless John Waters is your boss.Via Ectomo, natch.
posted by chinese_fashion on Dec 3, 2007 - 55 comments

Canadian scientists heal spinal injuries with stem cells from skin (in rats). "Over the course of their research, the team found that skin-derived stem cells share characteristics with embryonic neural stem cells, which generate the nervous system. ... After 12 weeks, the rats were able to walk better, with more co-ordination." [more inside]
posted by Artifice_Eternity on Sep 6, 2007 - 40 comments

With the French embrace of Pixar's Ratatouille, one of the movie's locations has become an unlikely tourist attraction. "Destruction des Animaux Nuisibles" reads the sign above the door of Aurouze, where the bodies of rats 80 years dead hang suspended by iron traps in the storefront window. Meanwhile, American scientists tickle rodents to record thier tiny gales of laughter. Viva la difference!
posted by maryh on Aug 20, 2007 - 18 comments

Totally rad Frontline video about Hero Rats who sniff out unexploded land mines in rural Tanzania. Not only a great idea, but this story had me on the edge of my seat: are the rats on a suicide mission or not?
posted by dydecker on Jun 29, 2007 - 17 comments

A Funeral Home With Gory Problems. "A Harlem funeral home has been sued for losing bodies and filching corpses from nearby hospitals. Now it must answer charges that a dead man's body was chewed up by rats." [from the Village Voice]
posted by davy on May 28, 2007 - 44 comments

Armor for cats and rats. Well, really it's cats and mice, but that doesn't rhyme as well.Token Samurai Cat Jeff de Boer, the artist (bio here) all links have been coralized to protect the webhost
posted by filmgeek on Dec 25, 2006 - 27 comments

Ratablog If the rats could type (or more accurately, if they could type actual words and refrain from peeing on the keyboard) they would tell their own stories. They can't, so we will.
posted by srboisvert on Jun 3, 2005 - 10 comments

"Rats that survive to the age of four are the wisest and the most cynical beasts on earth. A trap means nothing to them, no matter how skillfully set. They just kick it around until it snaps; then they eat the bait. And they can detect poisoned bait a yard off. I believe some of them can read." Also, they're athletes
posted by Shanachie on Apr 1, 2005 - 58 comments

Who ate termites first?
Ancient rat-like, mammals.
posted by dfowler on Apr 1, 2005 - 7 comments

If rats can distinguish between Japanese and Dutch , why would Elvis have looked like this at age 70?
posted by mcgraw on Jan 9, 2005 - 21 comments

Worried that the new guy might tip off the feds about your "concrete company?" The internet gives you the perfect research tool.
posted by drezdn on Dec 25, 2004 - 11 comments

Rats are being trained to detect buried land mines in Africa. Giant African pouched rats! Mine-detecting is definitely not a suicide mission, the rats are trained with care and attention and are expected to give about eight years of service. They can also detect tuberculosis. And so cute! Here's a page on keeping them as pets (but you'd need a spare room and a nocturnal lifestyle.)
posted by aeschenkarnos on Dec 3, 2004 - 17 comments

wow..and it can fly a flight sim using only the power of its mind.....via boing boing
posted by ShawnString on Oct 22, 2004 - 7 comments

Rats. Nature Rat's Genome Special Ratbots, Rats Gone Wild- Oxfordshire, Rat Clones, Renaissance rat.
posted by srboisvert on Jul 6, 2004 - 4 comments

Mutant Rats are Here! Farms in Kyrgyzstan are being overrun with rats that do not respond to the usual poison and target people. It was created in a (mad scientist's?) lab. Apocalypse Now?
posted by billsaysthis on Sep 22, 2003 - 34 comments

Giant Gambian Pouched Rats! Curious about these two-foot-long African rodents that have inadvertently gifted our nation's prairie dogs, children, and medical workers with monkeypox? Mary Ann Isaksen writes for the Rat & Mouse Gazette about keeping one of these cute li'l critters as a house pet.
posted by eyebeam on Jun 12, 2003 - 17 comments

"Ben" - The Michael Jackson song revisited by Crispin Glover.
posted by boost ventilator on Mar 13, 2003 - 24 comments

Robot Rats!
Excellent, now i can take over the WORLD!!
Please add, Predator like optics and Universal Soilder healing abilities - I expect to see them on thinkGeek by the end of the month, thank you.
Although a little cruel, scientist have managed to put implants in rats brains, effectivley given them god like controls of the little vermin.
posted by monkeyJuice on May 2, 2002 - 16 comments

Introducing ... Ratbot! Leave it to the good folks at SUNY to come up with a remote-controlled rat. Best of all: "If the rat correctly followed the cue and turned left, its reward-centre was stimulated, filling the rat with a feeling of well-being."
posted by risenc on May 1, 2002 - 8 comments

Rats R Us. "Rats are the backbone of much scientific research, but only a few off-the-shelf models are available," says the National Centre for Research Resources. So a new "rat boutique" is being opened to provide scientists with more diverse selection.
posted by sanitycheck on Jan 30, 2002 - 8 comments

Rodents will swim for fresh tuna? "Wrecked Taiwanese tuna vessel. Still had tons of tuna on board. Thousands of rats had taken over ship with relatively unlimited food supply." The boat is in open water. Maybe the rats sent out a reconnaisance team first? Do they really swim that well or could it be the tide goes down and they run for it? If they do swim that well, how did they get on to the boat?
posted by mmarcos on Sep 25, 2001 - 16 comments

Rat-mind-control-robot. Where'd these rat's sign up? I want my cyborgian arm!
posted by shmuel on May 2, 2000 - 3 comments