Science is making itself useful once again, this time completing a study that found that rats love having a boogie to some of our favourite tunes.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo rounded up 20 humans and 10 rats, put some accelerometers on them, and played different hit songs at different tempos. For example, they listened to some Mozart and played it at 75% speed, 100% speed (normal), 200% and 400% to see which tempo we, and our dancing rat friends, moved to the most.
“Results showed that the rats’ beat synchronicity was clearest within the 120 - 140bpm range,” the researchers noted.
The larger takeaway from the study is that the 120 - 140 bpm tempo may resonate with ALL animal species, not just humans. It used to be thought that the innate ability to dance was a human thing, this research shows that the dance might just be within all living things on earth.
Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’, Queen’s ‘Another One Bites the Dust’, and Maroon 5’s ‘Sugar’ was also played for the participants with the researchers finding that “both rats and humans jerked their heads to the beat in a similar rhythm,” as said by the research team in a statement.
That’s right, rats are just like us - although there are definitely some better tunes they could’ve used if they wanted to see the rats really leave it all on the d-floor. I suggest a bit of Hanson's 'Mmmbop and the Spice Girl's 'Wannabe' - I know it always gets me moving!
Maybe music is the key to a deeper animal-human connection here on Earth. Don’t know if I want to compete with the whole animal kingdom on the dance floor though.
