The "Shocking" Tactic Electric Fish Use to Collectively Sense the World

Short Wave

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🗓️ 8 March 2024

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

Neuroscientist Nathan Sawtell has spent a lot of time studying the electric elephantnose fish. These fish send and decipher weak electric signals, which Sawtell hopes will eventually help neuroscientists better understand how the brain filters sensory information about the outside world. As Sawtell has studied these electric critters, he's had a lingering question: why do they always seem to organize themselves in a particular orientation. At first, he couldn't figure out why, but a new study released this week in Nature may have an answer: the fish are creating an electrical network larger than any field a single fish can muster alone, and providing collective knowledge about potential dangers in the surrounding water.

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0:17.0	You're listening to shortwave from NPR.
0:22.0	Hey shortwaivers Regina Barbara here, and this time I've got two of our favorites for our regular roundup of Science News,
0:29.0	Elsa Chang.
0:30.0	Hi, thanks for letting me hang out again.
0:32.0	Always any time.
0:33.6	And Anil, Oza, hey Anil.
0:35.6	Hi, Gina, always a pleasure to be here.
0:37.3	Thank you, thank you.
0:38.1	It is always a pleasure to have you.
0:39.7	And as always, we're going to share three science stories
0:42.2	in the news that have caught our attention recently.
0:44.3	And I hear one of the stories is about a new satellite that tracks climate warming emissions from the oil and gas industry.
0:50.5	Yep, and another one is about a sense of rhythm that shared among
0:53.8	cultures all over the world. And one story about a fish that uses electricity to
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