Claws and Effect

Animal Class. Today's homework question:
1. Name five physical factors in the environment that can effect[sic] laboratory animals and thus alter experimental data.

Temperature. "Our staff one 4th of july turned the a/c off over the weekend. If you keep rats at 88degrees for 48 hours, 1/3 of the rats will be dead. And of the surviving males, 25% will be sterile!"

Ventilation. "We have 100% of our air coming in, and 100% going out. We don't want volatile vapors from chemicals affecting them."

Lighting. "Our rodents, especially albino rodents, are sensitive to high light."

Cage material and accessories. "We put in a hut for the animals in one cage. It was all well and good till one of the dominant ones decided it was his hut. That increased all of their natural aggressive behavior."

and Noise (no funny quote).

Also
On biological viruses:
"Pinworms are known to cause rectal prolapse in rodents"

On number of animals needed (for Mike hehe):
"Really, sit down with your statistician, figure out the power you need, and get an accurate number of animals you'll need."