Why are mice afraid of cats? Silly question you’re thinking. It’s because cats will eat them (with great joy, I might add). But is that fear genetic or learned? The answer is not at all obvious, since many mothers teach their young to hunt. And this is not simply an academic question, since we often have fears that hold us back needlessly. What if we could learn to control fear.
Researchers at the The Sakano Laboratory at the Universoity of Tokyo have made some amazing strides in understanding the biological origins of fear, using mice and cats.
