43 rhesus macaques escape from U.S. lab, 32 recaptured

At least 43 rhesus macaques escaped last week from a research facility in South Carolina, USA, after a caretaker accidentally failed to secure the gate to their enclosure. The incident has brought into focus once again the plight of monkeys captured and/or bred for biomedical research. Until yesterday, 32 of the simians had been recaptured, but 11 are still out in the woods surrounding the research facility in Yemassee, according to a CBS News report....

AI & ML could be the saviours of lab rats, dogs, and monkeys

For a long time, the practice of testing new products, particularly pharmaceutical drugs, on certain species of animals to determine safety of use in humans has been opposed by animal lovers. Help may finally be at hand, with artificial intelligence and machine learning systems offering a way out, according to a BBC report. Testing of new products on animals is one of the dark realities of scientific research. The testing has continued though in some...