Researchers Help Solve Internet Mystery
As seen in , , and other outlets, College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) students and a postdoctoral research fellow contributed to a study that reveals the rodent behind the so-called “Chicago rat hole.” Medical students Christine Lee (enrolled in the D.O./Ph.D. program), Noah Chernik, and Stratos Kantounis joined researchers from the University of Tennessee and NYITCOM Postdoctoral Teaching and Research Fellow , in examining the famous Chicago sidewalk impression—thought to be left by a rat splatting into wet concrete—and found that its shape and proportions actually match that of a squirrel. Their analysis found a 98.67 percent likelihood that the shape belonged to the genus Sciurus—a group that includes eastern gray squirrels and fox squirrels.