New math approach provides insight into memory formation

The simple activity of walking through a room jumpstarts the neurons in the human brain. An explosion of electrochemical events or "neuronal spikes" appears at various times during the action. These spikes in activity, otherwise ...

Scientists unlock the secrets of a sixth basic flavor

Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda first proposed umami as a basic taste—in addition to sweet, sour, salty and bitter—in the early 1900s. About eight decades later, the scientific community officially agreed with him.

Heat sensor protects the Venus flytrap from fire

The Venus flytrap can survive in the nutrient-poor swamps of North and South Carolina because it compensates for the lack of nitrogen, phosphate and minerals by catching and eating insects. It hunts with snap traps that have ...

A mutant plant with a counting disability

The newly discovered dyscalculia mutant of the Venus flytrap has lost its ability to count electrical impulses. Würzburg researchers reveal the cause of the defect.

page 1 from 3