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A living display system resolved pixel by pixel

Pigmented cells in the skin of cuttlefish can contract or relax to produce different skin-colour patterns. Tracking the dynamics of these cells reveals how this display system develops, and how it is controlled.
  1. Adrien Jouary

    1. Adrien Jouary is in the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, 1400–038 Lisbon, Portugal.

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  2. Christian K. Machens

    1. Christian K. Machens is in the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, 1400–038 Lisbon, Portugal.

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Our thoughts are hidden from sight, buried deep in the brain. Although this is undoubtedly beneficial in daily life, it is a serious drawback for neuroscientists: because much brain activity does not translate directly into behaviour, its function is difficult to determine. In a paper in Nature, Reiter et al.1 take a step towards circumventing this problem. The authors studied cuttlefish, which can change their appearance on the basis of their perception of the external world — in essence, they display some of their ‘thoughts’ on their skin. Using a range of state-of-the art techniques for computer vision, spectrometry and biomathematics, together with electrophysiology, the group exposes one of the most complex systems of motor coordination ever recorded.

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Nature 562, 350-351 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05909-0

References

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