One drunk fish makes the whole group swim faster
A single zebrafish, exposed to alcohol, not only swims faster among its “sober” peers, but also increases the speed of the whole group, report scientists.
The new research overturns the traditional experimental paradigm for alcohol-related studies. Typically, researchers expose all subjects and then analyze their behavior and movements.
Instead, researchers led by Maurizio Porfiri, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and director of the NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering’s Dynamical Systems Laboratory, devised an original method that would allow them to track a single, alcohol-exposed zebrafish amid a school of “sober” peers.
