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Developmental biology

Senseless motion

Rhythmic movements such as locomotion are produced by oscillatory circuits in the central nervous system. Work in fruitflies shows that the neural circuitry for such movements develops without peripheral sensory feedback.

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Figure 1: Embryo waves — peristaltic motion in a late-stage fruitfly embryo, just before hatching.

MICHAEL BATE & MATTHIAS LANDGRAF

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Correspondence to Eve Marder.

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Marder, E. Senseless motion. Nature 416, 131–132 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/416131a

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