# 624. The Animal No One Loves, Until They Do

An episode of [Freakonomics Radio](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/354668519), 28 Feb 2025, 45 min.

Audio: https://mgln.ai/e/2/pdst.fm/e/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/stitcher.simplecastaudio.com/2be48404-a43c-4fa8-a32c-760a3216272e/episodes/dc3bb5a8-8f94-43a6-90a6-02294517227d/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=2be48404-a43c-4fa8-a32c-760a3216272e&awEpisodeId=dc3bb5a8-8f94-43a6-90a6-02294517227d&feed=Y8lFbOT4

To most people, the rat is vile and villainous. But not to everyone! We hear from a scientist who befriended rats and another who worked with them in the lab — and from the animator who made one the hero of a Pixar blockbuster. (Part three of a three-part series, “Sympathy for the Rat.”) • SOURCES: • Bethany Brookshire, author of Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains • Jan Pinkava, creator and co-writer of "Ratatouille," and director of the Animation Institute at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg. • Julia Zichello, evolutionary biologist at Hunter College. • RESOURCES: • "Weekend Column: Rat’s End, or, How a Rat Dies," by Julia Zichello (West Side Rag, 2024). • Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains by Bethany Brookshire (2022). • "Rats: the history of an incendiary cartoon trope," by Archie Bland (The Guardian, 2015). • "Catching the Rat: Understanding Multiple and Contradictory Human-Rat Relations as Situated Practices," by Koen Beumer (Society & Animals, 2014). • "Effects of Chronic Methylphenidate on Dopamine/Serotonin Interactions in the Mesolimbic DA System of the Mouse," by Bethany Brookshire (Wake Forest University, 2010). • "A New Deal For Mice," by C.C. Little (Scientific American, 1935). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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