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Scientists teach rats to drive toy cars

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Scientists have taught rats to drive tiny little cars.

The rats have been taught to control small cars in order to receive treats.

The findings were part of a study which could help scientists understand how learning skills affect the human mind and stress levels.

They discovered not only that rats can learn to drive little cars but that rats which lived in better environments were able to learn better.

According to Professor Kelly Lambert at the University of Richmond, Virginia, the study bears a lot of relevance for the way that the human mind works too.

The study used a tiny car constructed from a plastic jug on wheels.

The floor was made of aluminium, and three copper bars allowed the rat to steer by gripping any of the bars with their paws, completing an electrical circuit.

In order to encourage the rats to learn to drive, the researchers placed a sweet cereal product within a particularly constructed arena.

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