Research Highlights |
Featured
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News & Views |
50 & 100 years ago
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Article |
A selective role for dopamine in stimulus–reward learning
Humans and animals readily learn to associate neutral cues paired with rewards, but the exact role that dopamine release has in this learning is controversial. Using previously established rat strains selectively bred for many generations to have greater or lesser propensity to assign value to learned cues, this study uses cyclic voltammetry to measure dopamine signals in the different strains and also examines the effect of blocking dopamine. It is concluded that dopamine selectively mediates motivational, rather than predictive, aspects of the cues.
- Shelly B. Flagel
- , Jeremy J. Clark
- & Huda Akil
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News |
Bone-boring worm once had a taste for birds
Osedax worms might have had a more-rounded diet 30 million years ago.
- Matt Kaplan
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News |
Mercury causes homosexuality in male ibises
Environmental pollutant radically changes birds' mating behaviour.
- Joseph Milton
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Research Highlights |
Zoology: Fish cocoons block biting bugs
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Books & Arts |
Conservation: China's national treasure
The panda's plight shows how protection often vies with economic necessity, finds Jane Qiu.
- Jane Qiu
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Books & Arts |
Sculpture: Terrible wonder
Alfred Keller's fastidious models of insects highlight his skill as an observer and a sculptor, finds Martin Kemp.
- Martin Kemp
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Research Highlights |
Evolutionary biology: Food thieves offer a helping hand
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Research Highlights |
Epigenetics: What makes a queen bee?
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Books & Arts |
Painting: Inquisitive and exact
Alison Abbott visits an exhibition charting the artistic and scientific interests of painter and collector Gabriel von Max.
- Alison Abbott
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News |
When snake fangs moved out of the groove
Ancient reptile hints at how venom injection might have evolved in modern snakes.
- Matt Kaplan
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News |
Plight of the bumblebee
A coordinated effort to address North America's disappearing bumblebees has got wings.
- Adam Mann
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Letter |
Acid sensing by the Drosophila olfactory system
Acid sensing has so far been demonstrated in the gustatory system only. Now, fruitfly olfactory sensory neurons selectively activated by acidic compounds have been identified. Acid sensing also requires the transmembrane protein IR64a, expressed in those neurons as well as neurons involved in the detection of non acidic odorants. Although the IR64a protein isn't sufficient by itself to determine acid recognition, the requirement for IR64a in acid recognition is the first function for a member of this recently discovered family of putative odorant receptors — the ionotropic receptor family.
- Minrong Ai
- , Soohong Min
- & Greg S. B. Suh
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News |
Wastewater chemicals dampen fish fervour
Nest protection and mating behaviour are altered by low levels of pharmaceuticals and antibacterials.
- Richard Lovett
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Research Highlights |
Zoology: No sons for snake that shuns sex
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Article |
Light-avoidance-mediating photoreceptors tile the Drosophila larval body wall
Light sensing outside the eyes is common in many animals but is usually confined to specialized organs. Here, the entire body wall of the fruitfly larva is found to be tiled with blue- and ultraviolet-light sensing neuronal dendrites, which are essential for the larva's innate light-avoidance behaviour. The phototransduction machinery used by these neurons is distinct from other Drosophila photoreceptor molecules but similar to a system recently identified in nematode neurons.
- Yang Xiang
- , Quan Yuan
- & Yuh Nung Jan
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Article |
Dysfunction in GABA signalling mediates autism-like stereotypies and Rett syndrome phenotypes
Mutations in the methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) gene cause Rett syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder with features of autism. Multiple mouse models of MeCP2 have been generated, but show only a subset of the symptoms of Rett syndrome. These authors find that mice with selective deletion of MeCP2 in GABA-mediated neurons show not only impaired GABA-mediated function, but capitulate multiple key features of Rett, further suggesting a role of inhibitory function in neuropsychiatric disease.
- Hsiao-Tuan Chao
- , Hongmei Chen
- & Huda Y. Zoghbi
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Article |
Encoding of conditioned fear in central amygdala inhibitory circuits
The central amygdala relies on inhibitory circuitry to encode fear memories, but how this information is acquired and expressed in these connections is unknown. Two new papers use a combination of cutting-edge technologies to reveal two distinct microcircuits within the central amygdala, one required for fear acquisition and the other critical for conditioned fear responses. Understanding this architecture provides a strong link between activity in a specific circuit and particular behavioural consequences.
- Stephane Ciocchi
- , Cyril Herry
- & Andreas Lüthi
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Research Highlights |
Zoology: Spiders lured by subterfuge
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Nature Video |
Bat Sense
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Letter |
Climate-driven population divergence in sex-determining systems
In vertebrates, sex can be determined either genetically or by temperature, but the evolutionary causes of this variation remain unknown. These authors show how live-bearing lizards at different climatic extremes of their range differ in their sex-determining mechanisms, with temperature-dependent sex determination in the lowlands and genotypic sex determination at higher altitudes. Their results establish an adaptive explanation for intra-specific divergence in sex-determining systems driven by phenotypic plasticity and ecological selection.
- Ido Pen
- , Tobias Uller
- & Erik Wapstra
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Correspondence |
Call for a return to rigour in models
- Matthijs van Veelen
- , Julián García
- & Martijn Egas
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Comment |
Altruism researchers must cooperate
Biologists studying the evolution of social behaviour are at loggerheads. The disputes — mainly over methods — are holding back the field, says Samir Okasha.
- Samir Okasha
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Books & Arts |
Animal behaviour: The wisdom of the bees
Swarms teach us that leaders should create conditions for collective decisions, learns John Whitfield.
- John Whitfield
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Research Highlights |
Zoology: Killer jelly hunts by stealth
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News & Views |
50 & 100 years ago
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Research Highlights |
Botany: Crazy for you, daisy
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Research Highlights |
Zoology: Cooperative flatworms
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Research Highlights |
Animal behaviour: Same-shaped shoals
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Research Highlights |
Zoology: Fish fly like jets
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Research Highlights |
Animal behaviour: Avian optical illusions
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News |
Getting a better grip on lab mice
Gentler ways of handling the rodents could keep them calm and reduce experimental variability.
- Janelle Weaver
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News |
Bowerbirds trick mates with optical illusions
Bowers may make males look bigger than they are.
- Amy Maxmen
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Research Highlights |
Marine ecology: Crab fights
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Research Highlights |
Palaeontology: Leaf-like history of lacewings
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Research Highlights |
Zoology: Insulin drops, so does sex
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Research Highlights |
Animal behaviour: Lobster shock
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News |
Cold empties Bolivian rivers of fish
Antarctic cold snap kills millions of aquatic animals in the Amazon.
- Anna Petherick
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News |
What does it mean to be an ant?
Genome sequences offer clues on how to be a queen and live a long life.
- Alla Katsnelson