Every once in a few months I come back to them mice on this blog. Goes with having a job that entails spending several hours a week in their company. And when I read a headline in Science News that says, " Sex and Drugs and Singing Mice", I am compelled to read the article. Turns out mice can sing. Here is the actual paper, if you care enough to read it. This paper, by another group has some audio files of mouse songs that you can listen to. They sound exactly like birds. Sweet at first. Annoying after about 20 seconds. Astounding, no? Mice sing. They twitter. They chirp. They whistle. (Small rant: To my eternal shame, I can't whistle. I've listened to her instructions a thousand times and I still can't do it. But my mice can. Damn. Sometimes, life is unfair.)
They sing when they're happy (i.e having sex), or when they're high (pumped chock full of amphetamines). Hmm. Kinky research, you say? Well then, read this paragraph from the article:
"A team of researchers led by brain scientist Haoran Wang at the University of Toronto in Canada used special microphones to eavesdrop on mice during sex. When they let a male mouse into a female's cage, he approached her with a series of whistle calls and then, during intercourse, sang more complex chirp songs until ejaculation. (Females sing during social reunion with other females but only squeak uncomfortably during sex)."
Sometimes, you read stuff, and you go Wow! This is clearly not one of those articles. This just makes you think....huh...even the poor mice. Clearly, there is no such thing as intelligent design!
They sing when they're happy (i.e having sex), or when they're high (pumped chock full of amphetamines). Hmm. Kinky research, you say? Well then, read this paragraph from the article:
"A team of researchers led by brain scientist Haoran Wang at the University of Toronto in Canada used special microphones to eavesdrop on mice during sex. When they let a male mouse into a female's cage, he approached her with a series of whistle calls and then, during intercourse, sang more complex chirp songs until ejaculation. (Females sing during social reunion with other females but only squeak uncomfortably during sex)."
Sometimes, you read stuff, and you go Wow! This is clearly not one of those articles. This just makes you think....huh...even the poor mice. Clearly, there is no such thing as intelligent design!
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