Regina Barber

Jeff, thank you so much for bringing us this story.

Jeff, thank you so much for bringing us this story.

Jeff, thank you so much for bringing us this story.

This episode was produced by Rachel Carlson and edited by our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones checked the facts and James Willits was the audio engineer. Beth Donovan is our senior director and Colin Campbell is our senior vice president of podcasting strategy. I'm Regina Barber. Thank you for listening to Shortwave from NPR.

This episode was produced by Rachel Carlson and edited by our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones checked the facts and James Willits was the audio engineer. Beth Donovan is our senior director and Colin Campbell is our senior vice president of podcasting strategy. I'm Regina Barber. Thank you for listening to Shortwave from NPR.

This episode was produced by Rachel Carlson and edited by our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones checked the facts and James Willits was the audio engineer. Beth Donovan is our senior director and Colin Campbell is our senior vice president of podcasting strategy. I'm Regina Barber. Thank you for listening to Shortwave from NPR.

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Hey, short wavers, Regina Barber here with an extra bonus episode for you this weekend. We wanted to give you a chance to hear something from our friends over at The Indicator, which is NPR's daily economics podcast. And this particular episode is about something science-y we think you'd be into. So thanks for checking it out.

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Hey, short wavers, Regina Barber here with an extra bonus episode for you this weekend. We wanted to give you a chance to hear something from our friends over at The Indicator, which is NPR's daily economics podcast. And this particular episode is about something science-y we think you'd be into. So thanks for checking it out.

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Hey, short wavers, Regina Barber here with an extra bonus episode for you this weekend. We wanted to give you a chance to hear something from our friends over at The Indicator, which is NPR's daily economics podcast. And this particular episode is about something science-y we think you'd be into. So thanks for checking it out.

And here are your Indicator hosts, Wei-Lin Wong and Adrienne Ma.

And here are your Indicator hosts, Wei-Lin Wong and Adrienne Ma.

And here are your Indicator hosts, Wei-Lin Wong and Adrienne Ma.

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Hey, Shortwavers, Regina Barber here. And today, our story starts with a rat scientist.

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Hey, Shortwavers, Regina Barber here. And today, our story starts with a rat scientist.

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Hey, Shortwavers, Regina Barber here. And today, our story starts with a rat scientist.

That's Kelly Lambert. She's a professor of behavioral neuroscience at the University of Richmond. And a while ago, this colleague of hers, a cognitive scientist who's into robotics and design, reached out with kind of a weird question.

That's Kelly Lambert. She's a professor of behavioral neuroscience at the University of Richmond. And a while ago, this colleague of hers, a cognitive scientist who's into robotics and design, reached out with kind of a weird question.

That's Kelly Lambert. She's a professor of behavioral neuroscience at the University of Richmond. And a while ago, this colleague of hers, a cognitive scientist who's into robotics and design, reached out with kind of a weird question.

Here we go. If you guessed that's the sound of a rat driving a tiny car, you're right. Kelly's rats are in a lab at the University of Richmond zooming in these four-wheeled little plastic boxes around this big arena.

Here we go. If you guessed that's the sound of a rat driving a tiny car, you're right. Kelly's rats are in a lab at the University of Richmond zooming in these four-wheeled little plastic boxes around this big arena.