How fruit flies find your food (and mates!)
Those tiny flies that take over your garbage cans during the summer? They are called fruit flies for a reason! They have a fantastic sense of smell and these tiny creatures are a popular animal model for researchers.
Serotonin and social skills: how adult mice differ from juveniles
Serotonin is a busy neurotransmitter, influencing processes as memory, mood, emotion, appetite, and sexuality. A prime role for this neurotransmitter is social behavior, across a variety of species; humans, rodents, primates.
Revealing the secret social role of the CA2 hippocampus
Aggressive behavior is adaptive for most species. But how is this aggressive behavior mediated in the brain? A recent study indicates that the hippocampus is a crucial neural component in mediating social recognition.
Bonobos not always as tolerant as generally believed: the plot thickens…
In Planckendael Wild Animal Park (Belgium), researchers have been observing a group of bonobos and have found that the differences between chimpanzees and bonobos are not always as black and white as generally believed.
How to measure the social behavior of Fragile X mice
The treatment of Fragile X syndrome is limited to the symptoms. One of the factors currently holding back drug development is the difficulty of finding a reliable behavioral test for neurobiological studies.
How males and females are different: can this explain autism?
Women and Venus, men and Mars, right? In mice, the establishment of social hierarchies is sex-dependent.
How wild cavies and domesticated guinea pigs differ
Domestication has a considerable effect on the behavior of animals. The dramatic change in their environment and provision of food alter the need for behaviors such as exploration. But what exactly is the difference?
How zebrafish are changing neuroscience
Zebrafish. This little fish is a vertebrate, and a relatively complex one. Looking at the major neurotransmitters and hormones that are investigated in neuroscience, they are as good of a model as many mammalian species.
Why wolves cry out for their friends
Why do wolves howl? From research, movies, and even television series, we learn that wolves cry out to each other to facilitate the reassembling of a pack when members have strayed.
How to mark zebrafish without compromising their behavior
How to mark zebrafish without compromising their behavior? They may have just found the answer to this at the University of Toronto. Cheung et al. tried out a method using subcutaneous injection with dyes.