Don't judge a book by its cover. Different neural circuitry underlying similar behavior by Akira Sakurai!

It is assumed that similar behaviors are generated by similar neuronal mechanisms. If nature has found one way of doing things, it will reuse it again and again for the same purpose. Akira and colleagues wanted to investigate this phenomena in the swimming behavior of two closely related molluscs. The swimming behavior of the two species is generated by very similar neurons, yet when they looked closely, the connections between neurons differed drastically. This suggested that the swimming behavior used the same same blueprint, but different architecture. To know more, please listen to Akira.  


For more information, please refer to:
Artificial Synaptic Rewiring Demonstrates that Distinct Neural Circuit Configurations Underlie Homologous Behaviors
Akira Sakurai and Paul S. Katz, Current Biology, June 2017

Blood from lungs! Interview with Emma Lefrançais on platelet production in lungs!

Blood nourishes every part of our body. It is generated every day to carry oxygen and food towards, and garbage away from every cell. Our lungs breathe in the oxygen that goes to the blood and remove carbon dioxide from it. Do lungs passively interact with circulating blood, or can they even generate new blood cells and spread them through the body?

Emma and colleagues wanted to test lungs as an active area of blood production. For this, they live imaged the blood cells within the lungs of mice. This amazing feat showed them platelets being born inside of the lung. And this pool of platelets were not a minority, but a significant part of blood count. Not only did they find platelet birth, but they also found blood stem cells living in the lung. These cells could, under certain conditions, help recover many types of blood cells! To know more about this exciting and profound discovery, please listen to Emma.


For more information, please refer to:
The lung is a site of platelet biogenesis and a reservoir for haematopoietic progenitors
Lefrançais et al., Nature, 2017

How deep breaths help with relaxation -- Interview by Kevin Yackle!

The one advice for relaxation is to take deep breaths. Yoga practitioners and doctors alike give this age-old advice. But how does our body connect breathing with calmness? Or is this a placebo effect??

Kevin and colleagues wanted to understand the biological connection between breathing and relaxation. For this, they targeted a specific region in the brain that is involved in controlling breathing. They killed a small region within this special area. Surprisingly, and fortunately, the animal's breathing did not stop. But it was slower, and was connected to the animal being calm under normal conditions! This showed a link between deep, slow breaths and a relaxed state of mind. To know more, please listen to Kevin.



For more information, please refer:
Breathing control center neurons that promote arousal in mice
Yackle et al., Science, 2017

Honeybees to Drones! Interview with Mark Roper on visual detectors for navigation!!

You must have all experienced a honeybee buzz around you, avoiding all your attempts at hitting it. These tiny animals are amazing at navigation. They move around like superman finding little flowers with ease. What makes them so good at navigation?

Mark and colleagues wanted to understand the amazing navigation capabilities of honeybees and generate a model of it. One would imagine that the system would be highly complex, with tons of interactions. But they show that the system can not only be modeled on a very few components, but it has a simplistic architecture. This generates a small and efficient system, which can be useful for helping us generate better navigation algorithm for daily life. As an instance, drones require large amounts of battery power for flying, which restricts the distance they can travel. But using honeybees based navigation system can allow them to be lighter and less power consuming, allowing them to fly much longer distances. Please listen to Mark to know more.



To know more, please refer to:
Insect Bio-inspired Neural Network Provides New Evidence on How Simple Feature Detectors Can Enable Complex Visual Generalization and Stimulus Location Invariance in the Miniature Brain of Honeybees
Roper et al., PLoS Computational Biology, 2017

Fangs or Venom, what came first? Interview with Nicholas Casewell on evolution of venom in Blenny Fishes!

Most of us get scared at the sight of a snake. It is the fear of a poisonous bite that scares us. Even if the snake is not poisonous, it scares us! So, just looking like something that is deadly, is enough to scare potential predators. Mimicking deadly venomous animals can be a good evolutionary strategy. For example, in the following video the animal looks like a snake, but is actually a caterpillar!!

Nicholas and colleagues use blenny fish to understand the evolution of venom and fangs, the apparatus for providing the venom. They find that one specie of blenny fish contains venom, but multiple other species of blenny fish only contain fangs, but not the venom! It seems the species only containing the fang, but not the poison, are mimicking the poisonous specie and taking advantage of the threat of the deadly venom. Just having the fangs without the poison provides advantages, without actually putting energy into generating the poison. To know more, please listen to Nick.


To know more, please refer to :
The Evolution of Fangs, Venom, and Mimicry Systems in Blenny Fishes
Casewell, Visser, Baumann, Dobson, Han et al., Current Biology, 2017

Listening with eyes! Interview with John Magnotti on deciphering McGurk effect!!

We all have tried to lip-read when we can't hear properly. We try to use visual cues to listen when the audio cue is missing or of bad quality. But did you know that our brain tries to use visual cues even when we can hear nicely. And if the two cues are not in sync, we can get confused. In-fact, we might 'hear' a different sound than what is falling on our ears! Our eyes change our audio perceptions! 

Have a look here:


John and colleagues wanted to understand why the effect occurs. And to do so, they generated a computational model which used an audio and visual cue to predict its perception. They found that an important step in correct perception is deciding if the cue arrives from one or two sources. Knowing the number of origins improves understanding. To know more, please listen to John.


To know more, please refer to:
A Causal Inference Model Explains Perception of the McGurk Effect and Other Incongruent Audiovisual Speech
Magnotti and Beauchamp.  PLoS Comput Biol 2017

Illuminating movements! Interview on motion control by optogenetics by Patrícia Correia.

Our brain controls our every behavior. This includes our simple everyday movements and our deepest thoughts and feelings. But are the mundane and complex processes connected in some way. Or are they processed in entirely different ways. Could there be a unified framework underneath the spectrum of behaviors.

Patricia and colleagues started by investigating the role of serotonin on mouse brain. Serotonin, a neuro-hormone, has been associated with mood and motivation within our brains. They wanted to understand the effect of providing increased amount of serotonin to mouse brain. They did this by using a technique called optogenetics, which is capable of using light to control cellular behavior. In their case, they used optogentics to increase serotonin levels in the brain. Upon doing this, they found a fascinating effect on the animal's locomotive behavior. This suggested that serotonin can controls our movements, possibly by affecting our motivations to carry them out! To know more, please listen to the interview with Patricia.


To know more, please refer to:

Transient inhibition and long-term facilitation of locomotion by phasic optogenetic activation of serotonin neurons.
Correia et al., eLife 2017;6:e20975

In addition, please have a look at wonderful fusion between art and science by Patricia, Roots of Curiosity, and her podcast, Creative Disturbance.