Tardigradelegs

Tardigradelegs OP t1_is5vu63 wrote

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Tardigradelegs OP t1_is5swc9 wrote

Abstract

Neurophysiological advances have given us exciting insights into the systems responsible for spatial mapping in mammals. However, we are still lacking information on the evolution of these systems and whether the underlying mechanisms identified are universal across phyla, or specific to the species studied. Here we address these questions by exploring whether a species that is evolutionarily distant from mammals can perform a task central to mammalian spatial mapping–distance estimation. We developed a behavioural paradigm allowing us to test whether goldfish (Carassius auratus) can estimate distance and explored the behavioural mechanisms that underpin this ability. Fish were trained to swim a set distance within a narrow tank covered with a striped pattern. After changing the background pattern, we found that goldfish use the spatial frequency of their visual environment to estimate distance, doubling the spatial frequency of the background pattern resulted in a large overestimation of the swimming distance. We present robust evidence that goldfish can accurately estimate distance and show that they use local optic flow to do so. These results provide a compelling basis to use goldfish as a model system to interrogate the evolution of the mechanisms that underpin spatial cognition, from brain to behaviour.

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- https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2022.1220

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Tardigradelegs t1_is094ie wrote

His prosthetic leg was also very impressive; possibly the first articulated prosthetic leg in place of the static 'peg leg' type developed by a London limb maker named James Potts. - https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/history/2020/12/02/disability-history-month-henry-paget-the-earl-of-uxbridge/

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You can also visit the prosthetic at the Calvary museum in Anglesey, Wales.

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