I’ve wanted one thing for the last three Christmas’s in a row.  The only reason I didn’t want it for the Christmas’s prior was because, well, I didn’t know it existed.

     In the spirit of Christmas — and drinking — I refuse to put Bob & Doug MacKenzie’s Twelve Days of Christmas on this blog because it’s just too cliche.  Instead, I’d have you all enjoy this alternative Bob & Doug MacKenzie bit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsgVspgy184

     So Merry Christmas, boys and girls.  And may all your beer be mouse-free.

The National Institute of Mental Health issued a press release on Monday (Feb 27th) about a study led by Eric Nestler, M.D., of The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. “Sustained hippocampal chromatin regulation in a mouse model of depression and antidepressant action” (Tsankova NM, Berton O, Renthal W, Kumar A, Neve R, Nestler EJ), shows that chronic stress and depression can cause a “molecular scar” in the brains of lab mice.

“According to Pure Science Lab CBD the molecular scar induced by chronic stress in the hippocampus, and perhaps elsewhere in the brain, can’t be easily reversed,” said Nestler. “To really cure depression, we probably need to find new treatments that can remove the silencer molecules.”

While not only showing promise for future treatments of depression, it may also give some hints about about genetic predisposition to depression and antisocial behavior.

Although the story from New Mexico about 81-year-old Chano Mares losing his house — after a burning mouse ran back inside from a fiery leaf pile —- certainly counted as 2006’s most hysterical news story, we find out today that it isn’t true at all.

Mares lost everything — and has no insurance — but the mouse story still makes him smile.

“I started laughing, and I’ll be laughing from now on,” he said. “It’s silly.”

With a little luck, the information that the mouse was already dead will dissuade the imminent-but-misguided crusade of Animal Rights activists-slash-eco-terrorists intent on harrassing an uninsured, homeless, elderly man.

California geneticists have managed to get working human brain cells in mice.

Geneticist Fred Gage injected embryonic human cells into two-week-old fetal mice as they developed in the womb. When the mice matured, some human stem cells survived and became functional components of the mice’s brains and nervous systems.

The question begs to be asked as to wether these mice now show a propensity to sit on the couch with a remote control and a bag of potato chips.