New non-animal chemical test backed WASHINGTON (AP) - Good news for bunnies. A federal advisory panel has recommended the use of a new, non-animal test to determine whether chemicals will burn the skin. The test could save lots of laboratory animals from potentially painful exposure to chemicals. "The panel recommended starting with this test and, if it's positive, you could classify a chemical as a corrosive without having to use an animal," Dr. William Stokes of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences said Tuesday. If the test, known as Corrositex, shows that the chemical is not corrosive, it would then be tested on animals to see if it is irritating, he said. "But at least you would not have the severe corrosive lesion with the animal," Stokes noted. See full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560031771-c7c> Rats' brain activity controls robot NEW YORK (AP) - Scientists have gotten rats to control a simple robot arm through the activity of their brain cells. That might be a step toward letting paralyzed people control prosthetic limbs. Six rats learned at first to press a lever to make the arm move back and forth like a windshield wiper. Then scientists implanted electrodes in the animals' brains, to detect the pattern of brain cell activity that made the animals' legs press the lever. Finally, the scientists switched control of the arm to a device that monitored the rats' brains and moved the arm when the appropriate brain activity appeared. Four animals were able to continue controlling the arm in this way. See full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560026421-dbe>
