Aiding shipworms' appetite for destruction

Appetite for destruction: neuron ablations, prey capture, and sensorimotor integration in larval zebrafish.

Editor's Note: These short reviews of a recent paper in the Journal, written exclusively by graduate students or postdoctoral fellows, are intended to mimic the journal clubs that exist in your own departments or institutions. For more information on the format and purpose of the Journal Club, please see Review of Gahtan et al. Neuroethology has developed as a branch of neuroscience with the ex...

An appetite for understanding appetite

I have a sweet tooth, and I will always choose any pastry over spinach salad. I also know that many readers will share this preference. However, I am also aware that an unbalanced diet, in quantity and quality, is associated with serious health problems, including type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. It has therefore become a pressing question in basic and t...

Title: Uncovering the molecular mechanisms of lignocellulose digestion in shipworms

Uncovering the molecular mechanisms of lignocellulose digestion in shipworms

Lignocellulose forms the structural framework of woody plant biomass and represents the most abundant carbon source in the biosphere. Turnover of woody biomass is a critical component of the global carbon cycle, and the enzymes involved are of increasing industrial importance as industry moves away from fossil fuels to renewable carbon resources. Shipworms are marine bivalve molluscs that diges...

Adaptive Aiding for Artificial Limb Control

Studies that were conducted by the UCLA Bidtechnology Laboratory developing techniques for enhancing patient control for arm prostheses have produced a variety of upper body muscle transducer control systems, which were reported in the Bulletin of Prosthetics Research (1) and laboratory reports (2,3) . In pursuing this work it was revealed that there is a basic limitation on the ability of a pa...