William James, the “father of American psychology”, was amused when he watched an alligator cautiously approach a human – only to quickly retreat. The alligator repeated this behavior…
Imagine a box densely packed with balls. The spacing between the balls is filled with a fluid of viscosity similar to honey. The box has many copies of…
Since 2014, the NIH has required annual progress reports to include a description of whether academic institutions make use of the Individual Development Plan (IDP) or not. An…
Sensory systems evolve to detect and transduce stimuli that are most relevant to an animal’s physiological or behavioral context. Ancient cartilaginous fishes, such as sharks, skates, and rays,…
Predicting future rewards depends critically on beliefs about the current state of the world. For example, suppose you go to a restaurant with two chefs, one who you’ve…
Perhaps the first lesson that we learn in any neuroscience course involves defining the unique properties of neurons. Neurons, we learn, are polarised entities where information flows from…
The Engert and Schier labs address in a recent paper in Neuron (PDF) how larval zebrafish senses temperature and transforms the sensory representation to generate behavior with the ultimate…
What are the molecular trajectories that embryonic cells go through as they become specialized? In a study in Science (PDF) the Schier lab combines single-cell RNA-sequencing with a novel…
You walk into a restaurant and immediately become aware of all the smells coming from the kitchen. These scents arise from small, volatile molecules called odorants. While there…
Imagine you’re at your favorite dive bar, and you order a margarita. Usually, the bartender arrives with your drink within 10 minutes, but occasionally, she forgets your order…
