The electrical constants of the ventral longitudinal muscle fibres of the stick insect Carausius morosus were determined by analysing the low-frequency cable properties of the fibre using short cable theory. At 20 °C in normal Ringer the membrane conductance (Gm) was 0.32 mmho.cm2, the sarcoplasmic conductivity (Gl) was 6.69 mmho/cm2 and the membrane capacity (Cm) was 12.2μF/cm2. In this solution the length constant (λ) was 2.13 mm and averaged 130% of the fibre length. Hypertonic (x 2) Ringers had no significant effect on Gi but increased the membrane conductance by about 35%. The effect of temperature on the electrical constants was also investigated: the temperature coefficient (Q10) of Gm was 1.44 and that of Gi was 1.41. The Q10 of the membrane capacity was 1.11.
In the field: an interview with Sönke Johnsen
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Sönke Johnsen is a Professor at Duke University, USA, investigating visual ecology and he talks about his experiences of collecting transparent animals while blue water diving and in a submersible, as well as outrunning Hurricane Katrina.
Call for new preLighters
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preLights is the preprint highlighting community supported by The Company of Biologists. At the heart of preLights are our preLighters: early-career researchers who select and write about interesting new preprints for the research community. We are currently looking for new preLighters to join our team. Find out more and apply here.
Graham Scott in conversation with Big Biology
Graham Scott talks to Big Biology about the oxygen cascade in mice living on mountaintops, extreme environments for such small organisms. In this JEB-sponsored episode, they discuss the concept of symmorphosis and the evolution of the oxygen cascade.
Trap-jaw ants coordinate tendon and exoskeleton for perfect mandible arc
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Trap-jaw ants run the risk of tearing themselves apart when they fire off their mandibles, but Greg Sutton & co have discovered that the ants simultaneously push and pull the mandibles using energy stored in a head tendon and their exoskeleton to drive the jaws in a perfect arc.
Hearing without a tympanic ear
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In their Review, Grace Capshaw, Jakob Christensen-Dalsgaard and Catherine Carr explore the mechanisms of hearing in extant atympanate vertebrates and the implications for the early evolution of tympanate hearing.
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