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Welcome to Cool Stuff Ride Home, where we bring you some of the more interesting, intriguing,

and downright cool stories

from around the world. I'm Marcus Baff, joined by Reggie Rizzou, and on today's episode, it's

Weird Wednesday, which brings us scientists giving rats cars to drive and what was learned from

their behavior behind the wheel. King Richard III's voice is recreated, for some reason, and the four-year skip-forward

cruise. Plus, on this day in history, we look at the TV movie that helped potentially

avert a nuclear war. All coming up on cool stuff. Starting off Weird Wednesday was something

you may have actually only seen in cartoons. Rats driving cars.

When the researchers first designed the tiny cars for rats,

they couldn't have imagined the profound insights the project would refuel about brains,

behavior, and emotional well-being.

What began as an inventive experiment to study rodent behavior blossomed into a journey of discovery,

not just about rats,

but also how positive experiences shape all living things. At the University of Richmond,

neuroscientist Dr. Kelly Lambert and her team crafted their first rat-operated vehicle, or ROV. They created it from a cereal container mounted on wheels. The quote-unquote driver's seat was a metal plate connected to a copper wire lever. When a rat sat on the plate and touched the wire, the circuit completed and the car moved. They did create upgraded electrical ROVs that featured rat-proof wiring, indestructible tires, and ergonomic driving levers.

Through patient training, the rats learned not only how to drive forward, but also how to steer,

guided by the lure of a cereal treat. The learning process highlighted a stark difference.

...