Lab notes: killer mice and interspecies sex put the 'wild' in wildlife

Many people are afraid of mice, but these ones really take the (cheese) biscuit: a study designed to examine the predatory instinct in mice successfully used optogenetics to switch their killer instincts off and on at will. In a slightly more romantic(? maybe not) vein, a male snow monkey was observed attempting to mate with female sika deer in Japan. This is only the second recorded example of sexual relations between two distantly related species, and could be down to "mate deprivation", say researchers. In more heartwarming news, scientists have studied the impact of babytalk on dogs, concluding that that puppies respond well to it, but older dogs are unmoved. It might also shed light on the way humans communicate with actual babies. And if animals aren't your thing, don't despair: there's some exciting knot news as well! Chemists have broken a world record, creating tightest knot ever made - a microscopic circular triple helix built from a strand of atoms, which could make a whole new world of materials possible. And if even that's knot (aha!) enough to banish the January blues, perhaps the possibility of rare thundersnow might interest you. This video explains it all AND contains one of the most excitable reactions to weather I've ever witnessed. In more serious news, medical and legal specialists have warned that recent breakthroughs in fertility procedures could lead to "embryo farming" on a massive scale and drive parents to have only "ideal" future children - and that we must start to plan for the potential impact on society now.