© PASCAL GOETGHELUCK/SCIENCE SOURCE
Biomedical engineer David Meaney uses mouse models to study the pathophysiology and behavior deficits caused by traumatic brain injury. At lab meetings, his students love to joke about their multitasking prowess—they can crunch data while chatting with him or even when sleeping.
Their trick is software the University of Pennsylvania team wrote to analyze videos of mouse behavior 24/7. Not only does the program spare them from tedious hours of watching mice snooze or sniff, it also provides more-reliable results by eliminating variation in how different scientists score behaviors.
“Controlling behavior, ultimately, is the function of the brain,” says David Wolfer of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and the University of Zurich, where he studies the neural basis of cognitive function in mouse ...