What mice watching Orson Welles movies teaches us about vision 

What can we learn from studying mice watching Orson Welles movies? A lot, according to new research. Scientists had mice view clips of Welles' 1958 noir masterpiece “Touch of Evil” and measured electrical activity in the visual cortex to record how neurons "see" what’s on the screen. Only about three-quarters of the neurons responded, but in some parts of their brains, only a third did. This surprise finding could indicate that a large percentage of visual neurons are doing something apart from vision, which computer recognition software could benefit from emulating. The findings could provide insights into the workings of the visual cortex and could help improve self-driving cars or brain prostheses designed to help the blind see.