Posts by Andrew Spink

Our gut microbiota influences how we feel

Our guts are our second brain. But how does that work? Researchers implanted the gut flora of depressed mice into non-depressed mice and observed the results.

What is a placebo? And how does it work?

The placebo effect reveals how belief alone can influence pain and symptoms. Recent research uncovers brain mechanisms, like the panacea effect, involved in this effect in mice

Conference about techniques and methods for measuring behavior

With so many meetings, in so many fields of behavioral research, what makes the Measuring Behavior conferences stand out?

Should you use a combination of modes to optimize behavioral studies?

If you ask a scientist what they think of when you say, ‘behavioral study’, they will come up with wildly differing answers, depending on their own type of work.

5 tips to help behavioral researchers comply with privacy legislation

Privacy legislation can mean extra concerns for behavioral researchers, but these tips make your life easier.

Replacing rodents with insects in behavioral testing

In this blog we delve into the use of flies as a new perspective for behavioral testing. How do they compare to rodents? And can conventional rodent tests be adapted to insects?

Diving deeper: Obesity and Anxiety, a scientific perspective

It seems that there is a relationship between poor mental health and obesity. But the exact reasoning is far from clear. Animal experiments can shed light on the situation

Are fish empathic?

Ever wondered if fish can be empathetic towards each other? Find out in this blog how oxytocin plays a role in fish behavior!

The challenges of measuring epilepsy in rodents

EEG on freely moving rats? It's possible in the PhenoTyper. This was necessary to measure if delivering drugs directly to the brain could help epilepsy patients.

What is the connection between depression and rheumatoid arthritis?

Is depression in patients with rheumatoid arthritis caused only by the pain, or is something else also going on?

Zebrafish behaviors shows true effect of chemicals on aquatic animals

Modern industrial processes, agricultural practices and domestic waste result in all sorts of chemicals getting into our waters. CPC is widely used. How does it affect the fish?

New method for early detection of Alzheimer's disease

The color x-maze can be used to pick up symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in AD-mice months before traditional cognitive tests.