Timeline for Do rats swim 240 times longer after being saved from drowning?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
17 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Apr 5 at 7:36 | comment | added | Jack Aidley | @nathansit: The comments section of SE is not the place for extended discussion of a scientific paper, so I'll leave it here :) | |
| Apr 5 at 4:47 | history | edited | nathansit | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Respond to Jack Aidley's comment and revised answer to Evan Carroll's revisions
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| Apr 5 at 4:08 | history | edited | nathansit | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
cut bloat..
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| Apr 5 at 3:52 | history | edited | nathansit | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
addressed expectations regarding support of the claims made in the original paper by expounding on the paper's intent
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| Apr 5 at 2:07 | comment | added | nathansit | The paper concludes that the sudden death phenomena is due to hopelessness, and "seems to involve overactivity primarily of the parasympathetic system." The author supports his conclusion with physiological measurements of the rats, including the heart rate throughout the "exercise" and the vagus tone. It's also interesting to consider what's also mentioned in the last page: cases of sudden death in otherwise healthy people who ingested sublethal doses of poison but believe themselves to be doomed. My takeaway: believing yourself to be doomed dooms you, so consider alternatives! | |
| Apr 5 at 1:52 | comment | added | nathansit | @JackAidley I think that's a reasonable interpretation assuming that the wild rats behaved similarly. However, it seems that some rats were dying even prior to exposure to water. It seems that the water is contributory to sudden death, but not essential. Consider this quote from the paper: "However, some of the wild rats died simply while being held in the hand; some even died when put into the water directly from their living cages, without ever being held. The combination of both maneuvers killed a far higher percentage." | |
| S Apr 5 at 1:51 | history | suggested | CommunityBot | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
formatting, removed fluff
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| Apr 5 at 1:44 | comment | added | nathansit | @EvanCarroll the quote within the quote is copied from Wikipedia, yes. But it's originally from the last paragraph on the sixth page of the actual paper. | |
| Apr 4 at 19:39 | comment | added | Evan Carroll | You're quoting wikipedia for a commentary on a contribution rather than the actual paper. | |
| Apr 4 at 18:28 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Apr 5 at 1:51 | |||||
| Apr 4 at 13:52 | comment | added | Jack Aidley | ... in my opinion there is another interpretation of this behaviour. Rather than "giving up", the rats - correctly assessing that they were trapped - persisted in seeking escape by desperately searching below the waterline. | |
| Apr 4 at 13:50 | comment | added | Jack Aidley | Although this correctly describes the claims of the paper, I'm not sure the paper actually supports this conclusion. Read the bit where it describes the sudden death behaviour "The first rat swam around excitedly on the surface for a very short time, then dove to the bottom, where it began to swim around nosing its way along the glass wall. Without coming to the surface a single time, it died 2 minutes after entering the tank. Two more of the twelve domesticated rats tested died in much the same way". This is the only description, it does not say whether the wilds behaved the same... | |
| Apr 4 at 6:01 | history | edited | nathansit | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 112 characters in body
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| Apr 4 at 6:00 | history | edited | nathansit | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 75 characters in body
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| Apr 4 at 5:54 | history | edited | nathansit | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 6 characters in body
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| S Apr 4 at 5:53 | review | First answers | |||
| Apr 4 at 7:25 | |||||
| S Apr 4 at 5:53 | history | answered | nathansit | CC BY-SA 4.0 |