Rats have up to 70 whiskers on their faces, varying hugely in size, and shape. Almost every mammal possesses whiskers, but these rodents are what we call “whisker specialists,” meaning they have super ...

Humans and animals are incredibly adept when it comes to adapting to their environments. For example, when humans step on ice, it only takes a few shuffles of our feet for us to learn to glide.

Mitra Hartmann, an associate professor at Northwestern University, is studying the mechanics of rat whiskers to learn about human sensory perception. This episode of Science Bytes, produced by Kikim ...