How A Worm Brain Works
Which neurons fire when a nematode turns right, turns left or eats lunch? The behaviors associated with more than 150 neurons in the worm Caenorhabditis elegans are detailed in a new atlas, as described by Lauren Leffer in Scientific American. Scientists mapped all 302 neurons in the C. elegans nervous system in 1986, creating the first complete connectome. Connectomes for larger, more complex organisms could enable predictions of their behaviors too, as Monique Brouillette explained for Quanta in 2021.
A Crash Course in Black Hole Collisions
When two black holes collide, the resulting gravitational waves can send one of the black holes hurtling through space — at speeds up to 28,500 kilometers per second, or nearly one-tenth the speed of light, according to a new simulation described in Science News by Nikko Gasa. How do such black hole collisions happen? In some cases, it's possible that a third black hole nudges them together, Erika Carlson reported for Quanta in 2019. | |
