Mice, just like humans and monkeys, will start itching if they see a compatriot scratching itself, a new study finds.
The finding is the first evidence that "socially contagious itching" exists in rodents, the researchers said. Moreover, the researchers' neural analysis revealed that socially contagious itching is hardwired into the mouse brain.
"The mice got itchy when the other mice scratched [themselves]," said study senior researcher Zhoufeng Chen, the director at the Center for the Study of Itch at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "Just like a human being." Read more...
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