The team also realized that Schreiweis had set up her mazes in a crowded lab full of computers, lab benches, and wall posters that the mice could turn to for clues about their location in the maze.
To exit the corner, individual mice could turn either left or right, and the direction taken was then recorded.
"If," Kahn said, "we could figure out the gene [differences] between these two mice we could turn on and off diabetes and metabolic syndrome".
Several teams around the world have reported that they could turn mouse ES cells into spermlike cells by adding various growth factors (ScienceNOW, 10 December 2003).
The mouse color story, of course, could turn out to be true.
Dr. Faustman published a paper on Nov. 14 in the journal Science on diabetes in mice, showing that spleen cells could turn into pancreas cells and cure diabetes under certain conditions.
Among some cool new ideas: bacteria-eating viruses that may power cellphones, software to prevent texting behind the wheel, an implant that helps blind mice see and an advance that could turn wastewater treatment into an electricity producer.
He showed that resveratrol could turn plain vanilla, couch-potato mice into champion athletes, making them run twice as far on a treadmill before collapsing.
One of the mouse researchers declared in a video available on the F.R.S. Web site that "quercetin could turn out to be one of the most important discoveries in nutrition in a very long time".
If they wanted to, they could turn the house upside down and make it spin in space with the click of a mouse.
