WHY IT MATTERS: Cornelius Gross of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Monterotondo, Italy, and his colleagues have developed a mouse model of the so-called crib death, which remains the leading cause of death during the first year of life in developed countries.
Image courtesy of John Wood/Square Pixels Image of an abnormal mouse brainstem with graphs of the mouse's body temperature and heart rate overlayed.
Too much activity from a brain receptor that regulates the hormone serotonin can cause sporadic death in developing mice with features reminiscent of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in humans, researchers say.
Source:
Audio excerpt from the weekly podcast of the journal Science
