Across the tree of life, animals use sound and other vibrations to glean valuable sensory information about their environments even before they are born.
Recent findings buck the traditional idea that embryos are passive agents and instead suggest that by tuning into vibrations, organisms can better prepare to enter the outside world.
The tropical net-casting spider Deinopis spinosa joinsseveral other arachnid species that can hear sounds from afar without the help of a web, or even ears—an ability that aids its unique hunting tactics.
After a decades-long pursuit, researchers have confirmed the identity of the pore of the mechanotransduction channel in vertebrates’ inner ear hair cells.
Researchers have been using ultrasound to control brain activity, but studies in mice and guinea pigs show it also stimulates the auditory system, presenting a confounder for direct neural stimulation.
The Atlantic has been free of intense air-gun blasts to probe for oil and gas for 30 years, and researchers fear for endangered North Atlantic right whales and other animals.
Researchers reduce the severity of hereditary deafness in mice with the delivery of CRISPR-Cas9 protein-RNA complexes that inactivate a mutant gene in their inner ears.
Using three-dimensional culture, which allows cells to grow in a ball-shape aggregate, scientists created inner ear organoids containing sensory neurons and hair cells.
