hebel. today · 7 November 202646 / 74

Beyond Familiar · Odd Science

Fruit fly neurons reveal the secret to walking

Researchers reconstructed the complete wiring diagram of a fruit fly's nerve cord, tracing 15,000 neurons to identify the specific circuit that coordinates walking. By running this map as a simulation, they discovered that only…

Researchers reconstructed the complete wiring diagram of a fruit fly's nerve cord, tracing 15,000 neurons to identify the specific circuit that coordinates walking. By running this map as a simulation, they discovered that only three neurons govern the rhythm of all six legs, a finding confirmed in live flies using light-switched neurons (Lawrence Lundy-Bryan from State of the Future). This breakthrough provides a blueprint for studying larger systems, such as the human spinal cord, by allowing researchers to test repairs in a digital environment before clinical application.

  • A 12.2-centimetre fecaloma, an impacted mass of feces, was successfully dissolved in a patient after doctors administered two 1-litre Coca-Cola enemas (New Scientist).
  • Physicists recreated primordial quark-gluon plasma by colliding oxygen nuclei at near-light speeds, offering a glimpse into the state of matter shortly after the Big Bang (The Weird Science Drop).
  • Dwarf reed snakes in Southeast Asia escape predators by curling into a C-shape and cartwheeling, a motion that appears faster than traditional slithering (Bruce Goren from Bruce’s News Nuggets).
  • An 18-million-year-old ape fossil discovered in Egypt suggests that the evolutionary origins of modern apes may lie in Africa rather than previously assumed regions.

Try today · 30 min

Map the logic of a complex system you use by simulating its core components.

Identify the three 'neurons'—the essential variables—that drive the output of your process.

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Sources

  1. Bruce Goren, Bruce’s News Nuggets ✎ Written by a personThis report details the rare cartwheeling escape mechanism of the dwarf reed snake and the discovery of water-bearing Martian minerals.

  2. New ScientistThis piece describes the medical use of Coca-Cola as a mucolytic agent to dissolve massive fecalomas when conventional treatments fail.

  3. The Weird Science DropThis collection covers the recreation of primordial plasma, ancient ape origins in Egypt, and the ultrasonic singing of prehistoric insects.

  4. Lawrence Lundy-Bryan, State of the Future ✎ Written by a personThis dispatch explains the mapping of the fruit fly nerve cord and the potential for large-scale simulations to decode biological mechanisms.

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