Not Just One of the Plagues

Model organisms get a mention as the New York Times speaks with Cambridge University's Jeremy Niven about his work on locusts — Niven says that insects can help researchers better parse out the nervous system. "We have not discovered yet the neural circuits in humans that are involved in reaching for objects. However, we might be able to work that out in locusts," he says. "We already know that it doesn't take a huge brain to accurately control the limbs. These insects do it. There are all kinds of possibilities for robotics and for rehabilitative medicine in these studies."