A new method of examining the skin can reduce the number of animal experiments while providing new opportunities to develop pharmaceuticals and cosmetics

Easi-CRISPR allows researchers to create much-needed animal models at previously unheard of rates and significantly lower cost

In 62 immunological measures, 57 differed between wild and laboratory mice, researchers found

Based on this study, the current practice of authorizing animal experiments appears to rest on an assumption of scientific rigor, rather than on evidence that it is applied

The maze constructed by the researchers was designed with fully automated features and video tracking to avoid some of the other experimental pitfalls of earlier mazes

Team hopes that people living in or near remote areas flush with biodiversity can take this preservation technique, use it, and then send the specimens to laboratories equipped with the technologies to do the analysis

This non-invasive method repeatedly images the same organisms, thereby reducing the number of animals used in testing

They say an animal-friendly antibody production technique using bacteriophage viruses instead of live animals is being overlooked, despite the enormous potential for reduction in animal use

For many scientists, research is nothing like what we see in TV and movies.

"Only a fraction of drugs that show promise in animals end up proving safe and effective in humans," lead researcher says