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Devoid of a head, many insects will continue to kick and twitch until at last, drained of all life, their movements grind to a complete stop.
"Not only do these results challenge the prevailing notion that motor learning and memory are solely confined to brain circuits, but we showed that we could manipulate spinal cord motor recall, which has implications for therapies designed to improve recovery after spinal cord damage,"While the brain has the ultimate call over most forms of movement, the spinal cord is more than just a simple highway for nervous signals.
How these distinct classifications of spinal cord tissue work together to learn novel responses long after the nerves have locked in place has been a pressing question for neurologists seeking ways of helping damaged nerves recover. With one mouse learning to pull up its hind legs, the team switched the roles for each mouse a day later, demonstrating the learned responses weren't short-term adaptations. The nerves had truly learned a new trick.
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