Research Roundup: Combatting Zika virus, Understanding the brain, reprogramming skin cells, and more

Welcome to this week’s Research Roundup. These Friday posts aim to inform our readers about the many stories that relate to animal research each week. Do you have an animal research story we should include in next week’s Research Roundup? You can send it to us via our Facebook page or through the contact form … Continue reading Research Roundup: Combatting Zika virus, Understanding the brain, reprogramming skin cells, and more

The Limits of Computer Simulations

Following on from the last post about the limits of fMRI technology, we will now look further at the limits of another so called "alternative" - computer simulations. Animal rights groups also argue (Warning: AR website) that advanced computer simulations can replace the use of animals in our research.  This position, again, reflects the poor … Continue reading The Limits of Computer Simulations

The limits of fMRI

Animal rights groups often argue (Warning: AR Website) that new imaging technologies, such as fMRI, provide an alternative to invasive brain research in animals, accusing those doing animal work of failing to adopt these modern methods.  Such a position reflects a misunderstanding of what these instruments measure and their limitation in studying how the brain … Continue reading The limits of fMRI