Ferrets and Science

Constant Activity Of Visual Cortex Surprises Scientists

Being past ferret owners (we had three of them for six years, until they all died of old age), it's very amusing that anybody could use ferrets for any type of research. They're clever and can get into anything, but they're certainly not smart.

I guess that's supported by this quote from the article: "What is the visual cortex so busy processing when there's no image to process?"

The ferrets had just as much brain activity in the pitch dark as they did when they were watching The Matrix. The young ferrets don't process visual stimuli in a way that reflects reality, and the older ferrets see things that aren't there.

So, the conclusion is that ferrets are not smart. They're cute and loyal and friendly and loveable and little scamps, but they're not smart. At least that's my conclusion. This so-called researcher's conclusion? "Either [the ferret reproduce their own reality inside their brains] or The Matrix freaked out the ferrets the way it did everyone else."

Brilliant!


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My wife says she thinks they're the smartest animals in the world, no matter what I say, so I had to put that in my blog.

Added: 10/12/2004 07:05:00 AM
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