As they annoyingly buzz around a batch of bananas in our kitchens, fruit flies appear to have little in common with mammals. But as a model species for science, researchers are discovering increasing similarities between ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 17, 2022
0
185
The distinctive smell of a flower… the unmistakable aroma of coffee… the dangers linked with inhaling smoke fumes. Sensory systems have evolved to provide us with immediate, finely tuned information about the world around ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 1, 2022
0
59
Nestled deep in the middle of the vertebrate brain is a multi-sensory integration and movement control center called the superior colliculus. In rodents, this brain region integrates multi-sensory inputs—visual cues, sounds, ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 18, 2021
0
95
When humans look out at a visual landscape like a sunset or a beautiful overlook, we experience something—we have a conscious awareness of what that scene looks like. This awareness of the visual world around us is central ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 29, 2021
3
2498
Soap bubbles facilitated the pollination of a pear orchard by delivering pollen grains to targeted flowers, demonstrating that this whimsical technique can successfully pollinate fruit-bearing plants. The study, from the ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 17, 2020
0
972
MIT engineers have designed a "brain-on-a-chip," smaller than a piece of confetti, that is made from tens of thousands of artificial brain synapses known as memristors—silicon-based components that mimic the information-transmitting ...
Bio & Medicine
Jun 8, 2020
0
1539
In the frigid waters 1,500 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, hundreds of human-sized Humboldt squid feed on a patch of finger-length lantern fish. Zipping past each other, the predators move with exceptional precision, ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 23, 2020
0
427
Two-photon laser scanning microscopy imaging is commonly applied to study neuronal activity at cellular and subcellular resolutions in mammalian brains. Such studies are yet confined to a single functional region of the brain. ...
A study involving scientists at the University of Arizona and the University of Queensland provides new insight into how the small brains of mantis shrimp—fierce predators with keen vision that are among the fastest strikers ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 25, 2019
0
245
In a circular arena, a fruit fly navigates a virtual landscape illuminated by black and blue lights. The fly is tethered in place, able to flap its wings but not move its head. Images on the wall rotate to give the illusion ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 20, 2019
0
153
