Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by araneae 3775 days ago
The hot water test is actually one of the nicer tests.

120 F isn't that hot, it only hurts after a while, and the mouse can take its tail out at any time. That's how they were able to detect the effect; the mice that saw the other mice do the test took their tails out faster because they knew it'd eventually hurt based on the prior mouse's reaction.