Rethinking The Lab Rat

Short Wave

NPR

News, Life Sciences, Daily News, Astronomy, Nature, Science

4.7 • 6.5K Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2023

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For generations, scientists have leaned on seven key species, including rats and mice, for research. They're called model organisms and they've been standardized over the year — removing as much individuality as possible. But as research questions become more complicated, some researchers are turning to more niche critters to study. Host Regina Barber talks to reporter Anil Oza about the shift.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:06.0	Hey, Shure Wavres, Regina Barbara here with Reporter Extraordinaire, Anil Oza.
0:10.8	Hi, Gina.
0:11.8	Hey, Anil.
0:12.8	Okay, so I want you to close your eyes and picture like an early 20th century lab for me.
0:17.8	Okay, very sterile room, lots of microscopes, sinks, tiled floors, maybe lots of dudes and lab
0:26.4	coats.
0:27.4	Yep, but you're missing the most important people in that room, the rats.
0:32.6	Rat test subjects, I am missing them, you're right.
0:35.4	Yeah, and sometimes really interesting those test subjects is Sonia Shaw.
0:39.3	She's a scientist journalist that I spoke to recently and she's been looking into how
0:42.6	using mice and research has changed over time.
0:45.3	And she says that by the mid 20th century, some scientists were trying to figure out how
0:48.8	to standardize the animals that they use in research.
0:51.4	You know, we started having new therapeutics that needed to be tested.
0:55.8	You know, you test the same dose of insulin on, you know, a group of guinea pigs.
1:00.4	Well, some guinea pigs are going to react in one way and some guinea pigs react in a
1:04.4	totally different way.
1:05.4	And it's because there's individual variation.
1:07.4	Sonia is really interested in the relationship between animals and humans and she's been
1:10.9	looking into it recently for this big story she wrote for the New Yorker.
1:14.3	And lab rats are a big deal.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.