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Drunk mice sober up twice as fast when given an injection of the hormone FGF21. Plus: balls of human brain cells are being taught to play video games

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Sobering up

A hormone that helps drunk mice to sober up could one day treat acute alcohol poisoning in people. The livers of both mice and people make more of the hormone FGF21 after consuming alcohol. Now it has been discovered that mice injected with extra FGF21 take half as long to wake up and get to their feet after losing consciousness from the ethanol than mice without getting the injection. They also recover their coordination faster. Read more.

Brain organoids play games

Computer scientists are hooking up tiny spheres of human brain cells to get them to play video games. Brett Kagan at Cortical Labs in Melbourne, Australia, who is studying these organoids, reveals how they could help us understand how human memories form and lead to a new kind of artificial intelligence. Read more.

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The “omics” revolution—genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and so on—is allowing researchers to better understand the nature of epilepsy at the genetic and molecular level in the brain. So what does this mean for the future of treatment? Sponsored by UCB

Maya Beano

Pet cats have a reputation for aloofness. Compared with dogs, they seem indifferent to their owners (if owner is even the right word). And despite cats having lived among people for thousands of years, it is questionable whether this has done anything to tame them. However, it may be that cats are just misunderstood. They express themselves more subtly than dogs, so that many of us don’t understand what their behaviour means. Recent experiments suggest that cats are more socially intelligent and attuned to familiar humans than we realise and genetic investigations are now revealing moggies in a whole new light. Read more.

Find out how your brain really works, including how it learns languages, how it stores memories and the importance of sleep. You’ll also look at the mystery of consciousness and how your brain perceives your body, plus much more.

Matthew Killingsworth at the University of Pennsylvania talks about how money actually does buy happiness, in some circumstances.

Have a great Wednesday and thanks for reading.

Chris Simms

Assistant news editor, New Scientist
Email me at [email protected]

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