About this episode
To most people, the rat is vile and villainous. But not to everyone! We hear from a scientist who befriended rats and another who worked with them in the lab — and from the animator who made one the hero of a Pixar blockbuster. (Part three of a three-part series , “Sympathy for the Rat.”) SOURCES: Bethany Brookshire , author of Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains Jan Pinkava, creator and co-writer of "Ratatouille," and director of the Animation Institute at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg. Julia Zichello, evolutionary biologist at Hunter College. RESOURCES: " Weekend Column: Rat’s End, or, How a Rat Dies, " by Julia Zichello (West Side Rag, 2024). Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains by Bethany Brookshire (2022). " Rats: the history of an incendiary cartoon trope, " by Archie Bland (The Guardian, 2015). " Catching the Rat: Understanding Multiple and Contradictory Human-Rat Relations as Situated Practices, " by Koen Beumer (Society & Animals, 2014). " Effects of Chronic Methylphenidate on Dopamine/Serotonin Interactions in the Mesolimbic DA System of the Mouse, " by Bethany Brookshire (Wake Forest University, 2010). " A New Deal For Mice, " by C.C. Little (Scientific American, 1935). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.