Lately, that's pretty much what I do.
Oh yeah, and twittering might be lax between now and Wednesday evening thanks to a fresh bout of tests being launched on me during the period of time most students are using to
Today's story is aboot mouse noses. Baby mouse noses. Because nothing could be more adorable (unless you hate mice).
You might already know that much of how young mice recognize each other (well really, recognize any other mice) is by smell, but it turns out this isn't already set up before they are born. It takes a little while for the neurons in their noses to mature enough to identify mom as mom, and siblings as siblings. It's probably the olfactory marker protein (OMP) that causes this essential development to occur.
In normal mouse pups, the choice to nurse/snuggle with mom won out 78% over that of another lactating female, but in mouse pups with no OMP, they failed to make the distinction at all. Cool, right? I know not everyone is thinking "man, that is really useful information for when I have a litter of orphaned mouse pups and need to find an appropriate foster mother that won't eat them that they'll actively nurse from," but it is an important point of development for more than just mice. I wasn't under the impression that human infants identified mom by smell, though, but I do know that smell is an extremely important influence on people of any age and, thanks to conditioning, is an excellent way to trigger memories.
...Maybe this is why mom's cooking is always best?
Or maybe it's just interesting.
See you guys tomorrow,
-Miss Mouse
References and Links:
Wiggly baby mouse nosies
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-mouse-nose-nerve-cells-mature.html
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