Hmmm; not sure that I like what they did here.
The behavior didn’t occur when they stimulated the mice’s other brain parts. It’s a mechanism common to all higher animals, including humans.
The researchers expected to find these hunting circuits in mice because many mice kill and eat insects. The study relied on the technique optogenetics, in which neurons can be artificially activated using light, effectively allowing scientists to switch the killer instinct on and off at will.
The team, led by Ivan de Araujo, targeted a set of neurons in the amygdala.
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