Rats can already do a lot. They solve mazes. They read the faces of other rats. In 2019, a team of neuroscientists gave them a new job: driving. Researchers at the University of Richmond trained 17 rats to drive a small, hand-built car to the left, right, or straight ahead to earn a Froot Loop reward, in a study published in Behavioural Brain Research. The study notes that the goal was more than just a fun trick. The team wanted to push a rat’s brain to the limit with a truly complex task, and see what this might tell us about the brain more broadly. Lead scientist Kelly Lambert is a behavioral neuroscientist who has spent years studying stress and resilience in rodents. Her team wanted something harder than a simple lever press. Driving was the challenge, requiring motor control, spatial judgment, and timing all at once.
Building a car out of a cereal container
