What Drives the "Wet Dog Shakes" Reflex in Furry Animals?
What Drives the "Wet Dog Shakes" Reflex in Furry Animals?
Scientists identified the mechanoreceptor that triggers the distinctive shake-off behavior observed in mice when they become wet.
Scientists identified the mechanoreceptor that triggers the distinctive shake-off behavior observed in mice when they become wet.
touch
Mechanisms of Chili’s Heat, Menthol’s Cool Garner Nobel
Chloe Tenn | Oct 4, 2021 | 4 min read
David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian won this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their research on the ion channels involved in perceiving heat, cold, pain, and touch.
Losing Touch: Another Drawback of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Ashley Yeager | May 19, 2020 | 6 min read
Affectionate touches tap into the nervous system’s rest and digest mode, reducing the release of stress hormones, bolstering the immune system, and stimulating brainwaves linked with relaxation.
Infographic: Microbial Moves
Diana Kwon | Jun 1, 2019 | 1 min read
Bacteria coordinate a pilus's movement based on touch.
Artificial Touch Enabled
Jef Akst | Oct 13, 2016 | 2 min read
A quadriplegic 28-year-old man senses touch via stimulation of electrodes implanted in his somatosensory cortex.
Altered Sense of Touch in Autism?
Jef Akst | Jun 10, 2016 | 2 min read
A mouse study suggests that disruptions to nerves in the skin may contribute to autism spectrum disorder.
Artificial Skin Communicates with Neurons
Jef Akst | Oct 19, 2015 | 2 min read
A new flexible sensor can detect touch and generate electrical pulses that signal intensity of pressure to mouse neurons in vitro.
Pain and Itch Neurons Found
Kerry Grens | Mar 31, 2015 | 1 min read
Inhibitory nerve cells in the spinal cord stop the transmission of pain and itch signals in mice.
Capsule Reviews
Bob Grant | Feb 1, 2015 | 3 min read
Touch, The Altruistic Brain, Is Shame Necessary?, and Future Arctic
Pioneering Neuroscientist Dies
Kerry Grens | Jan 19, 2015 | 1 min read
Vernon Mountcastle, who mapped the functional landscape of the neocortex, passed away at age 96.
Mapping the Emotional Body
Jef Akst | Nov 17, 2014 | 2 min read
Researchers studying neurons that respond to gentle touch reveal that people find strokes on another person's back and shoulder more pleasurable than strokes to the forearm and hand.
Monkeys Accept Virtual Arms as Own
Jef Akst | Aug 26, 2013 | 2 min read
In a variation of the classic rubber-hand experiment, researchers have shown how the macaque brain can confuse visual and tactile stimuli.
Why Mice Like Massages
Edyta Zielinska | Feb 1, 2013 | 1 min read
Researchers pinpoint a gene marker for neurons sensitive to gentle touch such as grooming.
Human Whiskers
Kerry Grens | Feb 1, 2013 | 3 min read
Scientists probe our sense of touch for a feedback loop between sensation and motion.
Testing for Whisker Sense
Kerry Grens | Jan 31, 2013 | 1 min read
A subject participates in an experiment devised by Weizmann Institute of Science researcher Ehud Ahissar to probe the neurological mechanics of tactile sensations.
How Plants Feel
Kerry Grens | Dec 1, 2012 | 3 min read
A hormone called jasmonate mediates plants' responses to touch and can boost defenses against pests.
Contributors
The Scientist Staff | Sep 1, 2012 | 2 min read
Meet some of the people featured in the September 2012 issue of The Scientist.
Sense and Sensibility
Mary Beth Aberlin | Sep 1, 2012 | 3 min read
Why is tactile perception so fundamental to life?
Speaking of Science
The Scientist | Sep 1, 2012 | 2 min read
September 2012's selection of notable quotes
Missing Touch
Megan Scudellari | Sep 1, 2012 | 10+ min read
Bionic fingers. Rewired nerves. Science fiction becomes reality as scientists attempt to give prosthetics a sense of touch.