Animal navigation
Magnetic senses, stellar compasses, remembered smells and routes through the ocean.
4 problemsAnimal signals and responses
Camouflage, contraction and seasonal rhythms, with navigation as a separate branch.
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7 problemsCuttlefish camouflage feedback
A cuttlefish can adjust its skin pattern through a meandering series of changes. What tells it whether the current pattern is getting closer to the background?
Sponge contraction coordination
A freshwater sponge expands and squeezes its water canals to flush out irritants. How does a body without conventional neurons organize the wave and bring it to an end?
Daphnia life-history kairomones
Water from roach fed Daphnia makes Daphnia reproduce at a smaller size. Which dissolved chemical carries that warning?
Aphid wing induction
A crowded wingless pea-aphid mother can produce daughters with wings. How does a touch on the mother become a developmental instruction to her embryos?
Coral larval settlement
A swimming coral larva touches a microbial film and may attach and become a polyp. Which signals in a natural mixed biofilm make both steps happen?
Hibernation arousal
A hibernating ground squirrel repeatedly warms up in the middle of winter. What internal signal makes a long cold torpor bout end?
Periodical cicada timing
A cicada nymph can spend sixteen winters underground before preparing to emerge. What stores that history and opens the developmental gate in the right year?