What Makes Worms Turn for Food?
Thursday, November 1, 2007 Wriggling worms are motivated by their sense of smell – lingering when they detect the tempting aroma of their favorite bacterial snack, or twisting and turning to explore new territory when that aroma fades. In new studies, Howard Hughes Medical Institute scientists have now shown how odor-sensing neurons in the worm can activate or inhibit other neurons that control crawling and turning. The studies have begun to explain how neurons are capable of carrying information over minutes or even hours – timescales that are much longer than the millisecond timeframes measured by many neuroscience experiments. The research team, led by Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Cornelia Bargmann, published its findings in the November 1, 2007, issue of the journal Nature. Bargmann is at The Rockefeller University, and other co-authors were from Stanford University. The scientists say their findings demonstrate that transient changes in sensory cues can trigger sus
