{"id":14671,"date":"2018-10-31T15:43:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T14:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/?p=14671"},"modified":"2024-03-22T11:11:41","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T10:11:41","slug":"a-worms-sense-of-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/a-worms-sense-of-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"A worm\u2019s sense of the world"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>We sense the world around us using primarily our eyes, ears and nose. Marine worms, on the other hand, have long been thought to understand the world very differently \u2013 primarily by detecting chemicals in the ocean water that surrounds them \u2013 although this has not been investigated in detail. Now, researchers in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.de\/research\/units\/dev_biology\/arendt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Arendt group<\/a> have recorded nerve cell activity in the head of marine worms. The worm\u2019s small size and transparency, means that all of the nerves and neurons within the head can be imaged at once. They found that these cells located in four particular areas of the head reacted when the worms were exposed to different chemicals. Alcohols, sugars, amino acids and an ester that smells like pears were tested. Reporting in <em>Open Biology<\/em>, the group identified these four areas of the head as the worm\u2019s chemosensory organs, capable of detecting different chemicals in the surrounding environment. The worm\u2019s antennae could detect each chemical equally well, whereas three other organs responded to each chemical differently. These chemosensory organs could help the worm go about its daily business of eating, escaping from prey or reproducing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"vf-figure wp-block-image alignnone size-full wp-image-14679\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"380\" class=\"vf-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/1810_RH_Arendt_head.jpg\" alt=\"Images of a juvenile marine worm\u2019s head\" class=\"wp-image-14679\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/1810_RH_Arendt_head.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/1810_RH_Arendt_head-300x184.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><figcaption class=\"vf-figure__caption\">Light microscopy image of a juvenile marine worm\u2019s head, showing the four chemosensory organs (left): antenna (ant), nuchal organ (no), palp (pa) and tentacular cirrus (tc). Active neurons inside the head revealed by calcium imaging (right). The active neurons appear in white. IMAGE: Antje Fischer\/EMBL (left) and Thomas Chartier (right)\/EMBL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EMBL researchers discover that four organs in a marine worm\u2019s head can sense different chemicals<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":14672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17591],"tags":[417,31,184,613,615,513],"embl_taxonomy":[],"class_list":["post-14671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","category-science-technology","tag-arendt","tag-evolution","tag-model-organism","tag-nerve","tag-neuron","tag-sense"],"acf":{"article_intro":"<p>EMBL researchers discover that four organs in a marine worm\u2019s head can sense different chemicals<\/p>\n","related_links":[{"link_description":"Research in the Arendt group","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.de\/research\/units\/dev_biology\/arendt\/"},{"link_description":"An overview of brain evolution","link_url":"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/science\/futures-understanding-brain-evolution\/"}],"article_sources":[{"source_description":"<p>Chartier, TF <em>et al<\/em>. Whole-head recording of chemosensory activity in the marine annelid <em>Platynereis dumerilii. Open Biology<\/em>, published 31 October 2018. DOI: 10.1098\/rsob.180139<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","source_link_url":"http:\/\/rsob.royalsocietypublishing.org\/content\/8\/10\/180139"}],"vf_locked":false,"featured":false,"color":"#007B53"},"embl_taxonomy_terms":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A worm\u2019s sense of the world | EMBL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"EMBL researchers discover that four organs in a marine worm\u2019s head can sense different chemicals in the surrounding environment.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/a-worms-sense-of-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A worm\u2019s sense of the world | EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"EMBL researchers discover that four organs in a marine worm\u2019s head can sense different chemicals in the surrounding environment.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/a-worms-sense-of-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-31T14:43:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-22T10:11:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/1810_RH_Arendt_featured.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"425\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emma Steer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emma Steer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/a-worms-sense-of-the-world\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/a-worms-sense-of-the-world\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Emma Steer\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4c1a1fd8d38ed9a5cf0d0020048f6443\"},\"headline\":\"A worm\u2019s sense of the world\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-31T14:43:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-22T10:11:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/a-worms-sense-of-the-world\/\"},\"wordCount\":249,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/a-worms-sense-of-the-world\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/1810_RH_Arendt_featured.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"arendt\",\"evolution\",\"model organism\",\"Nerve\",\"neuron\",\"sense\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Science\",\"Science &amp; 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