The Senses
September 18, 2026
The Sweetest Thing
Charles Zuker discusses the sweet receptor on Radiolab.
The Senses
September 4, 2026
Scientists study how the brain of a fish filters out signals
The Sawtell Lab has mapped the neurons in a part of the elephantnose fish brain that senses electrical signals in detail, and found that how it filters out electrical noise is more complex than they thought.
The Senses
September 2, 2026
This electric fish show how brains separate useful signals from noise
To find buried prey, the elephantnose fish senses tiny electric fields while firing its own pulses. A brain map by the Sawtell lab shows how neurons filter them out.
The Senses
March 8, 2024
The "shocking" tactic electric fish use to collectively sense the world
Nate Sawtell, PhD, interviewed on National Public Radio.
The Senses
April 12, 2023
How the brain rewards pleasurable physical touch
Ishmail Abdus-Saboor, PhD, traced a stimulating physical touch from the skin all the way to the reward center of the brain.
The Senses
February 8, 2023
Scientists mapped the brain circuitry involved in pleasurable touch in mice
Mouse study by Abdus-Saboor, PhD, completes a skin-spine-brain circuit of gentle touch.
The Senses
September 9, 2022
What’s behind fat addiction?
A study in mice by Charles Zuker, PhD, shows a signaling pathway that could be blocked to help reduce the urge to eat fatty foods
The Senses
July 18, 2022
The Biology of Taste Perception and Sugar Craving
Charles Zuker, PhD, explores the mechanisms of taste perception on the Huberman Lab podcast.
The Senses
June 9, 2021
Neuroscientists Have Discovered a Phenomenon That They Can’t Explain
Carl Schoonover, PhD, and Andrew Fink, PhD, discuss their latest research in The Atlantic
The Senses
April 15, 2020
Humans' “Unquenchable Desire” for Sugar Stems From an Unexpected Place
Charles Zuker, PhD, explains why we want sugar so terribly. The reasons why go far beyond taste.
