A checkerboard pattern of inner ear cells enables us to hear

A Japanese research group has become the first to reveal that the checkerboard-like arrangement of cells in the inner ear's organ of Corti is vital for hearing. The discovery gives new insight into how hearing works from ...

Discovery of an elusive cell type in fish sensory organs

One of the evolutionary disadvantages for mammals, relative to other vertebrates like fish and chickens, is the inability to regenerate sensory hair cells. The inner hair cells in our ears are responsible for transforming ...

NASA Studies Nanomechanics of Inner Ear

(PhysOrg.com) -- Learning how to walk again after long-duration space flights is a problem astronauts face as they readjust to Earth's gravity. To learn how microgravity affects human space travelers, NASA scientists studied ...

Five achievements that haven't won a Nobel Prize

The announcements of this year's Nobel Prize winners will start Monday with the medicine award and continue with physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics. The secretive award committees never give away any hints ...

Surviving dance club music (noise) with hearing intact

By tweaking a system in the ear that limits how much sound is heard, a global team of researchers has discovered one alteration that shows that the ability of the ear to turn itself down contributes to protecting against ...

Carnivorous plants: No escape for mosquitoes

Physically bound to a specific location, plants have to devise special ways to secure their supply of vital nutrients. Most plants have developed a root system to the nutrients they need in order to survive out of the soil. ...

A common ancestor for cells involved in hearing and touch

The sensory cells in the inner ear and the touch receptors in the skin actually have a lot in common, according to a new study from the USC Stem Cell laboratory of Neil Segil published in the Proceedings of the National Academy ...

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