Though the sense of touch underlies how we and most other animals interact with the world around us, much remains unknown about how this sense is processed in the brain. Researchers from Heidelberg University and Ludwig Maximillan University Munich in Germany measured the neuronal activity differences between active touch and passive touch in mice. As reported April 8^th in the open-access journal, PLOS Biology, the researchers find that active and passive touch are processed by different pathways in the brain.

In a new study published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, Harvard researchers in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, formally describe Helmetia expansa, offering new insights into its anatomy, behavior and evolutionary relationships.