Get rat-arsed or get the blues

Scientists from the University of North Carolina have discovered that giving up drink brings on black dog. Professor Clyde Hodge, who led the  research, said: “Our work establishes a link between abstinence from alcohol drinking and depression.”

You would have thought this news worth celebrating, until you read on, and discover the lame-ass way they did the research. First of all they found mice who liked a drop of the hard stuff, poured it down their little rodent necks for 28 days, cut them off for 14 days, then dropped them in a pool of water.

If they did lots of swimming, they were judged happy mice. If they did a bit of swimming but mostly just floated about, they were judged depressed.

Two questions. 1. What if they were just lazy mice or mice that didn’t like swimming? 2. These studies only ever use lab-style alcohol. When will scientists learn that mice prefer sherry?