PANICKED mice behave just like frightened people when trying to escape from a crowded room.
Scientists from the University of the Philippines placed 30 mice into an enclosed pool of water and then filmed them as they swam towards a doorway leading to dry land. As the animals jostled and pushed, they arranged themselves into queues and formed arches of bodies around the exit. Computer models of humans fleeing a crowded room produce exactly the same patterns. The mice also squeezed through the doorway in fits and starts, much as people do.
Experiments like this could reveal how best to…
