Research tool to track animals’ brain activity

IN a windowless laboratory, a mouse under buzzing white lights scrabbles at the floor of its cage. It seems to be unfazed by the miniature camera perched on its head, attached to a trailing wire.

The experiment was conducted in the Silicon Valley labs of Inscopix Inc., a startup tracking the brain activity of animals going about their daily lives, with the hopes of pulling useful insights from the data. The goal is to sell the brain microscopes to researchers and Big Pharma, aiding research into which neurons are responsible for hunger, decision making, learning, fear or medical disorders.