Nature Podcast
The brain cells that help animals navigate in 3D
- Author: Vários
- Narrator: Vários
- Publisher: Podcast
- Duration: 0:25:58
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Synopsis
Researchers uncover how grid cells fire in a 3D space to help bats navigate, and a fabric that switches between being stiff and flexible.In this episode:00:47 Mapping a bat’s navigation neurons in 3DGrid cells are neurons that regularly fire as an animal moves through space, creating a pattern of activity that aids navigation. But much of our understanding of how grid cells work has involved rats moving in a 2D plane. To figure out how the system works in a 3D space, researchers have mapped the brain activity of bats flying freely around a room.Research Article: Ginosar et al.07:44 Research HighlightsHow a ‘toxin sponge’ may protect poison dart frogs from themselves, and the world’s oldest known coin foundry has been found.Research Highlight: An absorbing tale: poison dart frogs might have a ‘toxin sponge’Research Highlight: Found: the world’s oldest known mint and its jumbo product09:59 A flexible fabric that transforms from soft to rigid (and back again)Researchers have created a ‘tunable’ fabric, inspired