[
Nature,
2002]
Behavioral ecologists have shown that many animals form social groups in conditions. Neurobiological evidence for this behaviour has now been discovered in the nematode worm, Caenorhabditis elegans. On pages 899 and 925 of this issue, de Bono et al. and Coates and de Bono present striking results on the genetic, molecular and neural mechanisms underlying nematode social feeding. These discoveries provide tantalizing insights into the effects of stress in social groupings.
[
Science,
2002]
As any homeowner knows, timely maintenance is vital for keeping a building functioning properly after construction is finished. The same is evidently true for the complex architecture of the nervous system - at least in the roundworm. On page 686, neuroscientists Oliver Hobert, Oscar Aurelio, and David Hall describe a new family of proteins that help keep the wiring of the worm's nervous system tangle free.