If you’ve been to a party, out to a fancy establishment, or been to a store selling wine, no doubt you’ve encountered a “wine snob.”  Wine snobs are those who not only consider themselves experts in the world of wine, but aren’t afraid to share their “expertise” with anyone and everyone surrounding them.  They’re a “wonderful” lot to spend time with.

Lest you think humans are the only species afflicted with wine snobbishness, a group of researchers at Japan’s Hiroshima University decided to train mice to tell the difference between different kinds of wine.

According to the researchers:

“We examined performance of mice in discrimination of liquor odors by Y-maze behavioral assays. Thirsty mice were initially trained to choose the odor of a red wine in the Y-maze. After successful training (>70% concordance for each trained mouse), the individual mice were able to discriminate the learned red wine from other liquors, including white wine, rosé wine, sake, and plum liqueur.”

Pretty impressive, for mice.  The research continued, this time the focusing on if mice could tell the difference between types of red wine:

“However, when the mice were tested to distinguish fine differences between 2 brands of red wine, their performance significantly varied among the individual trained mice. Among 10 mice tested, 2 mice were able to discriminate between the red wines (>75% concordance) whereas 6 mice failed to distinguish between them (50-67% concordance, where chance could be assumed to be 50%).”

Humans – 1, Mice – 0.

Evidently the only reason behind the research was to determine if the attention of mice could be altered through learning experiences.  Seems like a complete waste of time to me.

What do you think of the research?  What merit, if any, does it have and are there any real-life applications you see where society may benefit from a world with wine-smart mice?

iO9

A few days ago, I brought you the glory that is the Marvel HD television lineup. That was exciting, right? I mean, who wouldn’t want a television with their favorite character printed on it? Oh wait, you wouldn’t? Well then sir or madam, I do not want to be your friend.

But now there’s more. Urban Collector has just introduced Marvel and Star Trek keyboards and mice for the masses. That’s right, now you can get your very own keyboard and/or mouse with Wolverine, Iron Man or the U.S.S. Enterprise printed right across the face. Excited yet? No? Seriously, you’re being kind of a jerk.

Admittedly, these are a little bit busy, and the Star Trek model looks like it would give me a tumor if I looked at it too often.But, they are full wired USB keyboards with a numeric keypad, low profile keys, a USB port and function keys, so what else do you want? Oh, a price? I get it, now you’re being nice to me. I see how it is. Well, the keyboards go for $45.99, but if you want a matching mouse (and let’s just admit it, you do.) get ready to shell out another $26.99 for the wireless wonder. That’s right, the mice are wireless and have a scroll wheel. What? You want a matching mouse pad? Sorry, I can’t help you with that one. Maybe if you were a little bit nicer I might’ve Googled it or something, but now I’m just bitter.

So what about mice? If you are the kind who tends to spill water (or, God forbid, coffee) on your gadgets, you might want to take a look at some of the waterproof mice in the market. One of the newest washable mice is the Cherry MW-2800. It is optical and tracks at 1,200dpi. You can submerge this baby in water and use it like new after. It’s a bit pricey at $45, though.

Another washable mouse is the one from Belkin, the F5L007. This is cheaper at $29.99 and also has optical tracking at 1,200dpi. However, Belkin recommends washing this mouse under running water and not submerging it. That means that you cannot accidentally drop your mouse into your cup of joe (yes, I have done this).

USB Geek also offers a washable USB mouse for $17. It is heavier than the two other mice and only tracks at 800dpi. Last time I checked though, this was out of stock.

So, do you really need a washable mouse? Probably not but it would be fun to have one and not worry about splashing liquids all over the place. Now for a waterproof laptop…