Researchers found mice have special neurons that sense disturbances to their fur, causing them to shake and groom themselves when wet.

  • AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    My guess is that shaking dry is most effective if done at a speed too fast for normal motor control, so there’s a dedicated neural circuit that bypasses the motor cortex.

  • FourPacketsOfPeanuts@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Doesn’t everything we do have “special neurons”. Isn’t that what neurons are for? Isn’t the fact that neurons trigger this behaviour entirely not special?

    • OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      I think they mean ‘special’ like ‘dedicated’. There are neurons dedicated to this job. They are special amongst other neurons.

      • FourPacketsOfPeanuts@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Mice have something like 70 million neurons in their brain. They’re not exactly engaging in abstract thought. Everything a mouse does easily has hundreds of thousands of dedicated neurons…

        Just seems like the usual pop sci sensational title nonsense…