Journal Club

Highlighting recent, timely papers selected by Academy member labs

Category Archives: Animal Behavior

Newly observed forces help geckos stick to surfaces

Posted on May 28, 2021 by Amber Dance

Even the most advanced glues can’t match the remarkable toe of the gecko: Its impressive stickiness can be quickly deactivated and can support much more than the animal’s weight as it runs across surfaces smooth or rough, wet or dry, … Continue reading →

How an animal’s teeth can reveal where it’s been

Posted on February 5, 2021 by Stephen Ornes

A careful measurement of isotope ratios in animals’ teeth could offer a new way to closely track their movements, according to a recent study that showed how the approach would work in Mongolian sheep and goat herds. Tooth enamel … Continue reading →

Model suggests how evolution shapes ecological networks among species

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Carolyn Beans

The natural world is filled with networks. Predator and prey, flower and pollinator—each interacting pair forms a link in a networked community of organisms. Now, a French research team has developed a model that explores how evolution may help shape … Continue reading →

For camouflaged animals, a quick dash is best to avoid detection

Posted on January 31, 2020 by Amy McDermott

A hunting falcon flying over a field might not see a camouflaged rabbit hidden in the grass. But if that rabbit loses its nerve and runs, then the falcon will see its meal. Movement gives away even the best disguises. … Continue reading →

Categories: Animal Behavior | Ecology | Journal Club | Tagged camouflage, peripheral vision, sensory ecology, visual ecology, visual perception | Leave a comment

Dopamine-making neurons, an ongoing mystery, play a bigger role in reinforcing learning than in initiating action

Posted on January 24, 2020 by Amber Dance

Deep in the midbrain, one type of neuron has two crucial jobs when it comes to acting while anticipating a reward—a state also known as Pavlovian conditioning. Called dopaminergic (DA) neurons, they can link a signal, such as a sound … Continue reading →

For choices involving uncertainty, the brain simplifies the math that drives our decisions

Posted on September 27, 2019 by Lynne Peeples

Every day, people make countless decisions, big and small: Should I buy that new house? Do I want chocolate or vanilla ice cream? A recent study suggests that when faced with uncertainty regarding a choice, how a person evaluates their … Continue reading →

Predators can harm rather than help biodiversity

Posted on June 14, 2019 by Natasha Gilbert

Rich biodiversity depends on the ability of species to coexist. And yet, ecologists are still grappling with the requisite mechanisms. Recent findings published in Nature suggest that predators might not be as helpful a driver of species coexistence as … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Researchers catch the mouse brain in the act of learning something new

Posted on November 5, 2018 by Amber Dance

Neurobiologists have captured, for the first time, the moment in a mouse’s brain when it first learns something new: in this case, that a beep signals a delicious droplet of sugar water. The results, recently reported in Nature Neuroscience, support a famous … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Tracing light’s effect on mood and learning in mice from the eye to deep within the brain

Posted on October 11, 2018 by Carolyn Beans

To the mammalian eye, light offers more than just sight. “Light is so important for many innate functions,” says neuroscientist Samer Hattar of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). “We really don’t appreciate the importance of light in our … Continue reading →

Categories: Animal Behavior | Journal Club | Neuroscience | Psychological and Cognitive Sciences | Tagged circadian rhythms, intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells, ipRGC, perihabenular nucleus, retina, seasonal affective disorder | Leave a comment

Journal Club: Butterflies get diversity boost from associations with ants, plants

Posted on October 5, 2018 by Charlotte Schubert

Harvard University evolutionary biologist Naomi Pierce began studying Lycaenidae butterflies as a graduate student in the 1980s. But only recently has she accumulated enough data, from her team’s work and others’, to begin to address the question that has long … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Proprioceptive neurons offer new insights into a “sixth sense”

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Jessica P. Johnson

Proprioception allows people to know the position of parts of the body without seeing them, enabling us to touch type, walk in the dark without falling over, or drive a car while looking at the road. Defects in this sensory … Continue reading →