Worms Do Calculus To Find Meals Or Avoid UnpleasantnessScienceDaily (July 3, 2008) — Thanks to salt and hot chili peppers, researchers have found a calculus-computing center that tells a roundworm to go forward toward dinner or turn to broaden the search. It's a computational mechanism, they say, that is similar to what drives hungry college students to a pizza.These behavior-driving calculations, according to a paper published in the July 3 issue of the journal Nature, are done "in a tiny, specialized computer inside a primitive roundworm," says principal investigator Shawn Lockery, a University of Oregon biologist and member of the UO Institute of Neuroscience."This computer does some nice calculus, differentiating the rate of change of the strength of various tastes," Lockery said. "The worm uses this information to find food and to avoid poisons."
ScienceDaily (July 3, 2008) — Thanks to salt and hot chili peppers, researchers have found a calculus-computing center that tells a roundworm to go forward toward dinner or turn to broaden the search. It's a computational mechanism, they say, that is similar to what drives hungry college students to a pizza.These behavior-driving calculations, according to a paper published in the July 3 issue of the journal Nature, are done "in a tiny, specialized computer inside a primitive roundworm," says principal investigator Shawn Lockery, a University of Oregon biologist and member of the UO Institute of Neuroscience."This computer does some nice calculus, differentiating the rate of change of the strength of various tastes," Lockery said. "The worm uses this information to find food and to avoid poisons."
From ScienceDaily.com : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080702132219.htm