Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH is a 1971 science fiction novel by Robert C. O'Brien with inspiration from the research of Dr. John B. Calhoun of NIMH. The story won the Newberry Medal in 1972, and in 1982 was adopted into an Animated motion picture by Don Bluth. The novel relates the plight of a widowed field mouse, Mrs. Frisby, who seeks the aid of a group of former laboratory rats in rescuing her home from destruction by a farmer's plow, and of the history of the rats' escape from the laboratory and development of a literate and technological society.

Related Works
O'Brien's daughter wrote two sequels to the novel. The first is Raisco and the Rats of NIMH which tells the story of a city rat who joins the colony, and befriends Timothy Frisby. The other is R-T, Margaret, and the Rats of NIMH where in the rats assist two lost human children.

Relation to Real World Science
While the experiments described are not the one's Dr. Calhoun conducted an interesting parallel has emerged as of March 2013. The Rats, and Mice of NIMH in the novel where injected with a serum that gave them hyper intelligence, longevity, and strength. In the real world, Stem Cell research has been conducted on mice. This research involved injecting human glial cells into the brains of newborn mice. Upon maturity these mice proved faster learners then their none injected kin who where a control group.