I [love] rats!

Lub-DUB, Lub-DUB, Lub-DUB ... Scientists are pumped about some new research on hearts. They recently built a rat heart in a university laboratory and got it to beat just like a real heart. They did it by removing all the cells from a dead rat's heart, Leaving only the heart's outer frame intact. The first three photos of the rat heart below show that process. Then they injected heart cells from a baby rat into the empty frame. They jolted the heart with electricity and soon noticed tiny heartbeats (last two photos). "When we saw the first heartbeats, we were speechless," says Dr. Harold Ott. Scientists at the University of Minnesota hope their research will help them better understand human heart problems. Watch the scientists work at tinyurl.com/2kjbuy.

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