Single nerve cell triggers an escape.The action of a single nerve cell nerve cell n. 1. See neuron. 2. The body of a neuron without its axon and dendrites. , stimulated after a cricket detects the ultrasonic signal of a bat, permits the cricket to change its flight direction and escape its predator, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Cornell researchers. Such single-cell control of an important behavior had previously been reported only in crayfish crayfish or crawfish, freshwater crustacean smaller than but structurally very similar to its marine relative the lobster, and found in ponds and streams in most parts of the world except Africa. Crayfish grow some 3 to 4 in. (7.6–10. and some bony fish bony fish Any member of the vertebrate class Osteichthyes, including the great majority of living fishes and all the world's sport and commercial fishes. Also called Pisces, the class excludes jawless fishes (hagfishes and lampreys) and cartilaginous fishes (sharks, skates, . The scientists, Ron R. Hoy, Thomas G. Nolen and colleagues, are attempting to construct a "wiring diagram" for crickets to explain the behavior in terms of the capbilities and connections of their nerve cells. The investigators find that in contrast to the cricket's simple and speedy response to a predator, a more complex neural network neural network or neural computing, computer architecture modeled upon the human brain's interconnected system of neurons. Neural networks imitate the brain's ability to sort out patterns and learn from trial and error, discerning and extracting is required for the first stage of mating. There the cricket uses its neural circuitry to analyze pitch and rhythm of other crickets' songs in order to identify a suitable mate. The scientists suggest that, for survival, speed is of much greater essence is escape behavior than in mating. Hoy says, "In the animal world there are two kinds of prey, the quick and the dead." The report appears in the Nov 23 SCIENCE. |
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