Secrets of gentle touch revealed
Sunday, December 9, 2012 - 17:00
in Biology & Nature
Stroke the soft body of a newborn fruit fly larva ever-so-gently with a freshly plucked eyelash, and it will respond to the tickle by altering its movement —- an observation that has helped scientists uncover the molecular basis of gentle touch, one of the most fundamental but least well understood of our senses.