you're overpaying for car insurance, go to finance buzz.com. >> now i'm pete muntean at reagan national airport. this is cnn closed captioning brought to you by book.com. >> if you or a loved one have mesothelioma, we'll send you a free book to answer questions you may have. >> call now and we'll come to you. >> 881 4000. >> a secret vote to release what could be a bombshell of a report. >> sources tell cnn the house ethics committee voted to release its report on matt gaetz, the former florida congressman and one time attorney general pick of donald trump. we'll tell you how soon

it could be made public. and meantime, no love lost on capitol hill. house republicans investigating the january 6th insurrection say former congresswoman liz cheney should be prosecuted for investigating the riot. what this could mean for her and the possibility that president biden could thwart the process by pardoning her ahead of time. >> and you can call it the cheesiest joyride ever. a scientist teaching rats to drive tiny cars. and guess what? they apparently love it. we're going to have that researcher on to talk about the study and how these rodents can teach us all a few things about enjoying the rat race we call life. can you tell i love this story? >> i know you do. >> we're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to cnn news central. >> we begin with a different kind of rat race, that big reversal from the house ethics committee. we have learned that

the panel actually held a secret vote earlier this month, opting to release its report on former republican congressman matt gaetz. those are findings that could be made public by the end of the year, possibly even in a matter of days. >> but you might recall, just last month, the committee voted to shelve the results of the investigation. back when gaetz was being tapped to become president elect trump's attorney general. the yearslong probe looked into various allegations, including sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and accepting a bribe, among other claims. gaetz has denied all of the allegations, calling this probe a witch hunt. let's get the latest from cnn's chief congressional correspondent manu raju. >> this came as a major surprise. the decision by the house ethics committee to essentially reverse a decision it made in november to release the findings of this bipartisan, years long investigation into allegations of misconduct involving matt gaetz, the former florida congressman, someone who was picked as donald trump's choice initially to be attorney general of the united states

when he was made that when trump made that selection, that's when gaetz abruptly resigned from the house. and that put the committee in a bit of a pickle. what do they do with this investigation? well, the speaker of the house had said he isn't. he said that former members should not see ethics reports released. and that's one big reason why the house ethics committee back in november decided not to release this report. they said it was a final. he is no longer a member of congress. they should let it go. but there was a reversal that occurred when perhaps one reason why some of the members said the report at the time in november was not completely done yet. it is now. it was completed by the time they met in december, and that's when they privately voted to release it. and our reporting suggests that perhaps some republicans supported this effort with democrats to release this report. now, in the aftermath of our breaking this news this morning, matt gaetz put out a statement saying that talking saying that he has been exonerated by the justice department, which had

investigated some of these allegations as well, but also saying this, he said, my 30s were an era of working very hard and playing hard to. it's embarrassing, though not criminal, that i probably partied womanized drank and smoked more than i should have earlier in life. i have a different life now. he also went on to deny friedrich merz with anyone under the age of 18. we know that's been an issue in which this committee has investigated, so ultimately we'll get a sense of what this report is when it is released. the timing is a bit unclear. what we know from our reporting is that they voted to release this after the final day of votes in this congressional session. it's unclear when that will be. it could be as early as tonight if they finish work in the house, or maybe later in the week. that's something we'll have to watch in the days ahead. but one thing is clear matt gaetz has long maintained icy relations with many republicans on capitol hill, in large part stemming from his effort to oust kevin mccarthy as speaker

of the house which was successful last year, which angered republicans, sent them into a period of disarray. a lot of finger pointing, a lot of anger directed back at matt gaetz. we'll see if ultimately that was one of the reasons why for this change, of course, but a significant development nonetheless of a player in gop politics and someone who still has the ear of donald trump. >> all right, manu raju, thank you for that. let's talk about this now with megan hayes, democratic strategist and former biden white house director of message planning and republican strategist and cnn political commentator shermichael singleton. yay! transparency, guys, what do you think? >> i mean, look, i'm not surprised. >> i think republicans did the right thing by showcasing respect to the president elect, by waiting when mr. gaetz was still the potential nominee to run the department of justice. however, this goes back to something that i said on the show with you guys. i think, megan, you were here at the time that maintaining good relationships with your colleagues really, really matters. and i think what we're watching play out in real time is that mr. gaetz just wasn't very effective in doing so.

people still remember the debacle with kevin mccarthy, and i think that had a lot to do with why they ultimately, at least from republicans perspective, ultimately decided to move forward with releasing this. >> yeah, i think that the this also shows that republicans have a line here with the president, with president elect, and they have reached the line. >> and matt gaetz was crossing it. and i think that that is partly why this will be released. it also means somebody wants him out of politics and does not want him running for governor in florida. and i think that's also why i wonder who that could be. >> what do you make of of megan's assessment that there's a line here among republican lawmakers? because for this report to come out, some house republicans had to change their mind from where they were a few weeks ago when they voted to hold this report back. what does that tell you? >> it tells me that republicans want to maintain their independence and their autonomy as a separate body from the executive branch. and i would argue that the president elect, not as it pertains to this case specifically, but at least on the senate side, has for the most part, appeared to be willing to respect that separation as it pertains to many of his nominees. he's allowing them to have that

advise and consent authority there. so i think this is a good thing for some americans who may have wondered, well, will congress maintain their actual job? they appear to be doing so. i think we can expect that for the next four years. >> gaetz is responding at length here on x. let's read this, he says, i was charged with nothing, fully exonerated, not even a campaign finance violation. and the people investigating me hated me. i've never i've had no chance to ever confront any accusers. i've never been charged. i've never been sued. instead, house ethics were reportedly post a report online that i have no opportunity to debate or rebut. as a former member of the body, he went on to say what he did care about. in my single days, i often sent funds to women i dated, even some i never dated. but who asked? i dated several of these women for years. i never had sexual contact with someone under 18, and he claimed that i have would be destroyed in court, which is why no such claim was ever made in court. my 30s were an era of working hard and playing hard

to a lawyer might pick some of this apart, but megan, what do you think from a political perspective? >> yeah, i'm not sure why he's responding to this now. i mean, he has he will have a chance to respond to the ethics committee report once it comes out. it seems like there are holes in this from what people have told us and what the some of these women's lawyers have said on air before. so it's disconcerting. but i also am not sure why he is fighting to report now, and also ethics violations are not legal violations. they are not the same thing. so i'm not it's it's disconcerting, but i'm sure he'll respond again when it all comes out and we'll talk about it more like he he's right that the folks on that committee probably do really hate him. >> i'm pretty confident in that. and he's also right when he said the justice department did take a look at this and for some different reasons, they decided not to move forward. now the public will have to decide the merits of that. but ultimately, i'm not certain if this will have a significant impact on mr. gaetz political future in the state of florida. i think a lot of republicans there are pretty fond of him, and if he were to run for something, we'll see what that support looks like. but it

appears that president elect trump still favors him. and if that maintains and if he runs for governor, he may get that endorsement. >> we'll see how that goes. speaking of a republican, that former president trump does not favor former house congresswoman liz cheney. trump, at about three in the morning, put it on social media saying that she should face prosecution for her involvement with the january 6th committee. i wonder what you make of that, because the allegation is that she's taken some actions that potentially are witness tampering, but there's no proof of that. does that discourage lawmakers from potentially investigating a future administration? >> i would hope not. congress should do its job. i think the president elect is on a high run right now. he was just in france with macron. he's had meetings with justin trudeau, who may or may not continue to be the pm of canada. we'll see where that goes. and so i think right now, world leaders are

really coming to his corner to recognize his victory. and they want to figure out ways to work with him on the international stage. a lot of business leaders have flown down to mar-a-lago for lunch or dinner with the president elect, because they want to figure out a way to either rebuild or maintain relationships. and so my advice to the president would be, hey, you're doing well right now. people are applauding you. let's figure out a way to to move forward with a conservative agenda for the american people. allow congress to figure out what they're going to or not going to investigate. >> i just think that this is going to pose a real problem heading into the midterms, because the last thing the republican party wants to do is remind people of january 6th and remind people that donald trump tried to overthrow the government and incited an insurrection. so i just think that going into a midterms and going into 2028, this is not where they want to be. and i would just like let things lie. if i were him, i'd also recommend that he not use his twitter account or his truth social account. you know, during sleeping hours. i think it makes people think you're unhinged. i don't three. >> i don't mind him using the account. let's use the account to announce, hey, we're making, you know, some headwinds on immigration or the

economy, or we're working with some business leaders to bring hundreds of thousands of jobs into america. >> that's good stuff. 3 a.m. we've come so far since coffee, let's say. >> that's right. >> but still, it shows what went viral. for a minute there. >> it shows what's going on in his mind at 3 a.m. that he's on social media attacking this person even though he won. he hasn't let this go. yeah. >> you know, look, i do wonder, boris, how much of this is just the president elect thinking aloud. and for the average person, do they look at it and say, okay, this is a sort of trump, you know, thinking about his dislike of this individual, but he's not going to focus on this because he really wants to govern and see the results of governing. well, i think that's more of his priority. and i think that's what the american people can ultimately expect. >> shermichael megan, appreciate the conversation. as always, thank you both so much, brianna. still to come this hour, we're learning more about the troubled home life of a 15 year old girl who opened fire at a wisconsin school on monday. also ahead, in the next hour, the federal reserve expected to cut interest rates for the third time this year, but it could be the last cut for some time. what does this

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interest rates for the third time this year. >> so let's take a live look now at the dow. if we can, up 126 points at 125, making a liar of me there, as it does before. today, though, the dow closed lower for nine days in a row, its worst losing streak in 46 years. we have cnn's matt egan, who filed this report. >> boris and brianna, another interest rate cut from the fed looks imminent. the market is widely expecting a quarter point cut today. this would be the third straight interest rate cut from the fed. and it would mean that interest rates have come down by a full percentage point since september. the market is pricing this in at this point, so the fed almost has to cut rates because if they don't, they would risk unnerving investors. and they don't want to do that. now the fact that borrowing costs have come down of course is good news for consumers. everyone who's trying to pay off credit card debt or get a mortgage or a car loan, they should catch a bit

of a break. but the real key today is what the fed signals about the road ahead. because officials are set to issue new projections and the thinking is that the fed is going to signal fewer interest rate cuts in 2025. now, back in september, the fed was penciling in four rate cuts for next year. now the fed could be signaling three cuts or even two. and in some ways it is an awkward time for the fed to be cutting. it's not like the economy needs to be rescued. the unemployment rate has come up, but it's still pretty low. the economy is growing at a solid pace, and the war on inflation has stalled a bit in recent months. there's also just so much uncertainty about the trump agenda, whether or not tariffs will go sharply higher and other countries retaliate. what will that do to prices and whether or not there's going to be mass deportations that could cause a shortage of workers and also lift prices. we've also heard from a number of former

fed officials in recent days, who said that they don't think the fed should be cutting right now. so for all those reasons, it is possible that today's very likely interest rate cut could be the last one we see for a bit our thanks to matt egan for filing that report. >> and let's talk more about this now with mark zandi, chief economist for moody's analytics. mark, thanks for being with us. the fed expected and we should note you're not on the phone talking to someone else. you're on the phone with us. this is how we're managing our audio situation right now. but the fed is expected to cut rates again today just by a bit. what does that tell you and what should people be reading into that about the economy and the jobs market i don't think that holding his phone has solved some of the audio issues that we're having. >> we're going to try to get this resolved. yeah, clearly it didn't work. >> dang it. >> plenty more news to come on cnn news central, including the supreme court. may potentially

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money reserve is one of the most dependable gold distributors in america. >> closed captioning is brought to you by mike, an all in one home access and monitoring system my garage. >> i'd be closing while i'm hiking in wyoming if my home just had a brain let's turn back now to the fed's expected decision next hour. >> we are back with mark zandi. for real this time we hope. lots of fingers crossed. here he is. he of course. that's a good sign. he's laughing. he's the chief economist for moody's analytics. and mark

we're talking about what is looking like an expected small rate cut by the fed today. what does this tell you about the economy and the jobs market. >> well the economy is very good brianna. we're creating a lot of jobs. unemployment is very low, but interest rates are still high. so the federal reserve is cutting rates to normalize those rates to make them more consistent with monetary policy. and either supporting or restraining economic growth. so all is good. and with these rate cuts, i think, you know, prospects going into next year are good as well. >> so how does this third rate cut now in 2024 impact americans pocketbooks? >> well, great question boris. i mean it should have an impact through lower credit card interest rates. if you want to get an auto loan, the rates on that should be lower. home equity line of credit should be cheaper. businesses, small businesses that borrow from their bank at the prime rate

that should be lower as well. rates are coming down, but you know they're coming in very, very slowly. so credit card interest rates, for example, remain extraordinarily high. 2,324%. and so despite the fed's actions, we haven't really seen a lot of relief for consumers yet. i would expect that over time as we move into next year. but it's been painfully slow. hopefully we see more progress here in the next few months. >> yeah, and people are certainly feeling that painful slowness there. we've been watching the dow on this losing streak here, closing down for nine straight days mark, and that hasn't happened since jimmy carter's presidency. should should people be worried about seeing that? >> no, i don't think so, brianna. i mean, the dow is a kind of a snapshot for just a handful of companies, big companies, no doubt. but the stock market is a much bigger place than the dow. so it's not very representative of what's going on in the broader market. and i think

unitedhealthcare, which is, you know, obviously in the news and under a lot of pressure, is the main contributor for the weakness in the dow. so i wouldn't read too much into it. i wouldn't read anything into it. i mean, if you look at the broader market indices like the the s&p 500 or certainly the nasdaq, which is a window into what's going on going on for stocks, for technology companies, all is good. the stock market's at a record high. and that's very consistent with this very good economy that we have here at the end of 2024. >> and as we look to 2025, mark, i wonder what your forecast is, especially as we prep for a new administration to take over that has expressed some desire to alter the way that the white house works with the fed. >> yeah. you know, there's a number of policy changes dead ahead. i mean, tariffs are certainly on the agenda. president trump has talked about mass deportation. there's a big tax cuts coming that may add to budget deficits. and as you point out,

there's a lot of concern in policy economics circles around the potential that that president trump may have greater influence on the conduct of monetary policy in the reserve. so all those things, you know, if you add them up, they make me a little bit queasy. you know, i'm not a fan of broad based tariffs or mass deportation, and i'm certainly not a fan of anything that would impair the independence of the central central bank, the federal reserve. so we have to watch those things carefully. so i suspect, you know, 2020 5th may be a more challenging year than 2024. but the good news is we're going into 2025 in a really good place, at least in the aggregate. and that should help us navigate through a lot of storms. and even though there may be a few a few storms on the horizon. >> yeah, well, that sounds like some good news there. mark zandi, thank you for being with us. thank you for hanging with us. we do appreciate it. yeah. and thanks for hanging with me. take care. thanks. all right. next time, we'll do it right. but that worked. so the supreme court has just added a major case to its docket this term,

agreeing to hear arguments over that law that could ban tiktok. it's a law that seeks to force the sale of the platform by its chinese parent company. >> and the court is moving quickly here, expediting the case and scheduling arguments for january 10th, just nine days before the law is set to take effect. let's bring in cnn's chief supreme court analyst, joan biskupic. joan, how do you read this move by the court? >> you know, there seemed to be a certain inevitability here. this is a law that's supposed to come into effect on january 19th. >> major first amendment challenge 170 million users of tiktok in america. you know, this popular app, the government. this all traces back to last april, when congress passed and joe biden signed this law that would that said that tiktok would have to divest itself of its chinese owner or be banned in the u.s., couldn't be accessed on any kind of apps or platforms here. and let me tell you what tiktok said in its appeal of a lower

court ruling that sided with the government. congress is unprecedented attempt to single out applicants. that's tiktok and a group of users and bar them from operating. one of the most significant speech platforms in the nation presents grave constitutional problems that this court likely will not allow to stand. now, when they wrote that, they also asked the supreme court to postpone the january 19th deadline, but the court didn't. the court said, we're going to hear oral arguments and then maybe decide that the timeline here is pretty tight. >> so how quickly do you think that we could be seeing a decision by the court? >> i think they've already signaled that they're going to go fast, but can they go fast enough to meet the january 19th deadline? you know how the court acts. they usually take long months and months of briefing. they're going fast here. and there's a chance. i mean, the signal right now is that they want to be able to decide this by the 19th whether they will or not. we'll know. and what might happen after oral arguments is we might get an order that actually

postpones the effect of the law. on january 19th and says, you know, down the road we'll give you an answer. and then if they side with the federal government, the law could take effect, but not quite right on january 19th. >> and the timing of this is so interesting, in part because it's january 19th, one day before donald trump is set to be inaugurated as president. trump, of course, has met recently with one of the key figures in tiktok's leadership. we'll see what happens. joan biskupic, thank you so much. all right. thank you. >> and when we come back, families in mourning after another mass shooting in the u.s. this week. but how can you spot warning signs before tragedy strikes? it's such an important question. we'll talk about it next can't fool myself. >> it was the most exciting time in the world. >> his life had extremely joyful moments and some really difficult moments. >> you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime. >> luther. never too much new year's day on cnn. >> knock, knock. >> number one broker here for

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>> this is cnn. >> a tight knit community in madison, wisconsin is mourning the victims of monday's school shooting as investigators try to piece together how and why a 15 year old girl opened fire at the abundant life christian school, killing a teacher and a student and wounding six others. the city's police chief says the biggest priority now is to determine the shooter's motive. >> according to the washington post, court documents show the teen had a turbulent home life. her parents were divorced and remarried multiple times, and she, quote, moved between their homes every 2 or 3 days. she was also enrolled in therapy, according to the newspaper. she died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. we're joined now by clinical psychologist doctor jeff gardner. doctor gardner, thank you so much for being with us. this shooter, obviously, as we learn more, appears to have had a difficult home life. being the child of divorce isn't necessarily uncommon. nevertheless, what do you see

in the mental health of kids who have endured difficult home lives? obviously, the vast majority of them don't ultimately resort to violence. that is correct. and i think what we're seeing is many situations coming together that may have caused this horrible, horrible tragedy. >> and quite often it is not one singular or one piece of of some sort of an interaction or a problem. but all of those things converging and that person not getting enough attention, and it just escalates and it goes on for some time. not recognized. >> and the washington post has reported an image of the shooter at a firing range. so at least at some point, it appeared that she had access to weapons. we see that here. um, and obviously a more controlled

situation here at a firing range. but what do you make of that? and the import of that? >> well, i think we've seen this over and over again. >> certainly being at a firing range, owning a gun and using that as sport where you've been trained, where you know all of the safety protocols, is absolutely appropriate. but when there is some sort of a perhaps severe mental health issue, as we see there may be here or where there is some real instability in an individual's life. i think one of the things that we've learned over and over again is their access to guns certainly can be a vulnerability, and it certainly can exacerbate any issue because you're putting something that is so deadly in someone's hands who can't handle it or may use it, of course, as some sort of a weapon in response to a grievance or some other issue

that they are experiencing around, um, of violence. >> one of the unique aspects to this case is that the shooter was a female, and typically the profile of a young shooter, especially a school shooter, is that of a male. i wonder what you make of this seeming anomaly when you look at the broader picture and the history of school shooters yeah, absolutely. >> and interestingly enough, on your network, i talked about klebold and harris and the columbine shootings, and i think we've seen a pattern of more and more, um, males being involved in these terrible situations. but i think as we see now in our society, that young women are very much affected by many of the same issues as males are. so we can't be blind to the possibility that a female or some other person who is

experiencing some of this turbulence will not act out because they are not a male. so i think this opens our eyes as to the possibility that this can happen across the board with regard to gender and identity. >> doctor gardner, the the fbi emphasizes that these kinds of events, it's not an issue of the shooter just one day waking up and snapping and hear something like this happens, that this is something that can build over time. there are warning signs when when you think about this and you think about the warning signs, what do you think that people should know? and who are the people who should be looking out for those signs right. >> well, some of the things we should look at, whether there are any sharp changes in behavior where there's an escalation of grievances, where there is something that's called leakage, where there are comments or jokes or threats about violent plans, if the person is becoming more and

more depressed and isolated, if they have access to guns and have some mental health issues that may put them more uh, at a vulnerable stage in their lives. and not to say that people with mental health issues are violent, because we see most often they're not. but the people who really need to know about this are the teachers um, or the parents or the fellow students, so that if they see something, they can say something. and certainly as parents and school officials and counselors, psychologists, social workers, we want to be able to address someone who may be having some of these behavioral signs that i've talked about and let them know that help is out there for them. they don't have to suffer alone. and then eventually act out in some of these horrific ways. >> yeah, important stuff to hear. doctor jeff gardner, thank you for that. and now to some of the other headlines that we're watching these winds and dry conditions have

triggered another red flag fire warning for parts of los angeles and ventura counties in california. the warning is going to continue until this evening. and it comes just a week after the franklin fire forced evacuations and burned about 4000 acres in the malibu area. these current conditions have the potential for rapid fire spread and extreme fire behavior. also, another setback for the two nasa astronauts, who were only supposed to be in space for a week. mission controllers now say that sonny williams and butch wilmore will not be able to come home until late march at the earliest. last we heard, the pair would return in february, but officials say the new timetable will give nasa and space teams time to complete processing on a new dragon capsule. they have been up in space since early this summer. >> it's that stock they're trying to brew. >> i don't think that's it, boris. >> so honda and nissan are now discussing a possible merger. the japanese automaker has issued a statement confirming

they've been in talks on combining forces, though they offered no timetable for any such deal. honda and nissan have fallen on hard times as of late and announced earlier this year that they would collaborate on battery and electric vehicle technology. so cia director bill burns is expected to arrive in qatar as early as today, sources tell cnn. burns would be joining several u.s. officials in the middle east pushing for a gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. >> both israeli and hamas teams are there in doha for indirect negotiations. hamas expressing optimism, saying an agreement is possible but serious obstacles still remain. it seems like that is the case over and over. cnn's jeremy diamond is in jerusalem and filed this report. >> well, there is optimism in the air. >> significant diplomatic activity in the region and a clear sense of momentum towards a potential hostage and ceasefire deal between israel and hamas. but will there actually be a deal? that is indeed the question at this moment, as we are seeing a

number of officials arriving in the middle east to try and get this deal across the finish line, the latest arrival in the region appears to be the cia director, bill burns, who has been the top u.s. official in these negotiations for months now. he often travels and arrives in the region at critical junctures in the process, and this does indeed appear to be one of those critical moments yet again, following visits by the national security adviser jake sullivan last week, president biden's top middle east adviser, brett mcgurk, also in the region. and of course, we've seen an israeli delegation, hamas delegation in cairo, as well as in doha, qatar. and accompanying this flurry of diplomatic activity, you also have the rhetoric. we've heard optimism from the americans, from the israelis, from all sides, really saying that they believe that we are closer than ever to a deal. hamas also joining that optimistic rhetoric yesterday in a statement saying that they believe a deal is, quote,

possible. a hamas source also saying that the state of talks is, quote, positive and optimistic, but they are also offering a note of caution as so many others involved in the process are as well, hamas saying that a deal is possible as long as israel does not continue to make additional last minute demands in this process, and all sides are really urging caution, even as they are sounding an optimistic note, because we have seen so many times before, these two sides get very, very close to a potential agreement, but ultimately a deal not falling through. but officials in the region believe that conditions are now at their ripest for an agreement to actually take place. and there's no question that it is very much needed. as we are watching in gaza over the last 24 hours, according to the palestinian ministry of health, 38 people have been killed, more than 200 have been injured. and of course, the humanitarian conditions in gaza certainly not improving. much needed aid would get in if a cease fire were to go in place.

and then, of course, there are those 100 hostages still held in the gaza strip, about half of whom israel believes are still alive. their fate, of course, also hanging in the balance. jeremy diamond, cnn, jerusalem all right, jeremy, thank you for that report. >> and we'll be right back new year's eve live with anderson and andy. >> live coverage starts at eight on cnn. we will and doug liman, we're in a parade everyone customize and save hundreds on car insurance with liberty mutual. >> customize and save. >> and then i wake up and you have this dream every night. >> yeah. >> every night. i see. >> only pay for what you need. >> liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. >> emergency crystals pop and fizz when you throw them back.

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>> teaching a teenager how to drive a car. well, that can be hard enough. imagine teaching a lab rat. i don't know, maybe it's easier. maybe i don't know. no. maybe not. all right. some researchers at the university of richmond have taken on this task. and quite honestly, the results are pretty impressive. scientists there have been teaching rodents how to operate their very own rat mobiles, and they found that not only are they capable of driving, they seem to really like it. >> they love it. the rodent you see here is driving an electric rat mobile. not to be confused with the batmobile, which, if you're familiar with the work of batman, is more often driven erratically, if we're being honest. joining us now is the study's lead researcher, kelly lambert. she's a professor of behavioral neuroscience at the university of richmond and the author of the book the lab rat chronicles. a neuroscientist reveals life lessons from the planet's most successful mammals. doctor lambert, thank you so much for being with us. you started this research

several years ago, and you found that the rats. enjoy driving. how can you tell? >> that's a good question. >> um, yeah. our original work, we showed that that animals or rats that were in enriched environments learned to drive more readily, but more often, more recently, we were i was intrigued by watching the rats, and they seemed to be excited with their rat behavior about approaching the car. they would just jump in the car, and we recently gave them a preference test. they could walk to the fruit loop tree, and our rats love fruit loops. that's the currency of our lab. or they could take a longer path and drive to the fruit loop tree and more of them consistently went out of their way, walked to the car, or ran to the car, and then drove. so they took this longer path to the fruit loops tree. so they're showing us with their behavior as they

approach and take the long road so that they can actually drive. so it suggests that they do prefer to do this, and they do enjoy it. >> fruit loops and a nice drive. who can argue with that? and also the wheels that have been constructed for them are pretty great. so they must be appreciative for that. but what? tell us there's a point to this, right? what are what are you hoping to extrapolate from all of this? >> yes, my my lab is interested in how the brain changes as throughout our lives, especially as we take on new tasks. and we saw this driving task as a complex task or skill that they would acquire. and we were interested in how far we could push the rat behavior they teach me something every day. they're very clever, surviving animals. and so we want we're interested in how the brain changes through this and also how training, just learning a new task changes our

stress and coping. and we've seen that going through the training process itself changes the stress hormone profiles. but more recently, noticing that the rats seemed to enjoy this behavior, we're looking more systematically at the role of positive emotions and using a different paradigm in the lab to look at this, i have introduced the term behavior ceuticals about how we can change our neurochemistry and neurophysiology through behavior. intentional behavior. and so we're interested in how positive emotions extending our anticipation changes or sculpts the brain in beneficial ways. so the rats are kind of driven our research in different directions. >> i see what you did there. brilliant, doctor. yeah. all that from literally a rat in a plastic box with wheels and some wires. though i've learned that you've updated the new rat mobile. tell us

about this new model. >> well, i'm not sure what you've shown, but we're in our third version of the rat car, collaborating with a researcher, john mcmanus, at randolph-macon college. and we call it our rodent operated vehicle. our rov and so we have learned, along with the rats, how to construct a car. that's an interesting question. had to channel my inner rat about thinking about how it would approach the car and what the dashboard would look like, and how it would activate that lever. so we're not looking at human factors engineering, but rat factors engineering to understand how they can readily engage with this car. so we went you're correct from a cereal container to this more sophisticated rov. >> it's awesome. it looks fun. i think it probably brings a lot of joy to the researchers because it's brought i can't even tell you you've made them jumping up and down. boris has been so excited about this story for days. doctor lambert,

this has the potential to change the uber experience as we know it altogether. >> well, we've tried that. we're interested in the passenger versus the driver, and we call that the uber study. so we're working on that. you leave no stone unturned. >> it's unbelievable. this is amazing. this is so much fun. and it's also just so purposeful too. thank you so much for joining us and telling us about your research. >> doctor lambert five stars. doctor lambert, thank you so much. >> welcome. >> would ride again, right? >> yes, absolutely. >> absolutely. so stay with us. we are just minutes away from the federal reserve's announcement after its final meeting on interest rates for 2024. what they're telling us about the economy and inflation for next year, we'll have that ahead can't fool myself. >> it was the most exciting time in the world. >> his life has extremely joyful moments and some really

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