Running Wild … On An Exercise Wheel, Modernizing Champagne

Abstract

In Johanna Meijer’s lab at Leiden University Medical Center, in the Netherlands, it’s not unusual to see mice working up a sweat on running wheels. Among other topics, Meijer studies how exercise affects nerve circuits in the animals’ brains. Even though running wheels seem like a logical tool for this line of work, some scientists question whether the devices are skewing experimental results. “Now and then, I get a question about running wheels indicating pathological behavior,” Meijer says. Mice in the wild don’t use exercise wheels, she says, so it’s possible that captive rodents do so compulsively, because they’re sick mentally or physically. Meijer didn’t think this was the case, but still, the idea did make her wonder whether wild mice, free to do as they like, would choose to take a spin if a wheel were available. Turns out, not only do wild mice hop on exercise wheels voluntarily, ...