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As it is said in the article, “Scientists exploited the fact that the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans harbors a mechanosensory complex very similar to that of

As it is said in the article, “Scientists exploited the fact that the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans harbors a mechanosensory complex very similar to that of humans.” So, not only in worms.

yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
> very similar to that of humans. I hope it matches, of course, but I've seen enough rat studies to feel like that's weasel wording.
- tgv 4y ago
  This isn't about a drug. Those have some very specific conditions under which they have to do their thing. This is about a mechanism for transducing oscillatory forces to a neuronal signal, and it describes the exact structure. There are still holes in the pathway, but it looks very interesting to me, and (from my lay understanding) generic enough. You wouldn't say that a study into a rat's retina is completely irrelevant to human eye sight, would you?
  - perth 4y ago
    Is it true that rabbit’s eyes are pretty close in structure to that of a human?
    - tgv 4y ago
      Mammals have similar retinas, but they've specialized differently. IIRC, the wiring to the visual cortex is also similar, including the optic chiasm.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
    > You wouldn't say that a study into a rat's retina is completely irrelevant to human eye sight, would you? Er, probably? Not completely irrelevant, and perfectly valuable in laying out the groundwork for how we suspect things might work, but I also wouldn't trust it until somebody had it separately verified that human retinas actually worked the same way. > and (from my lay understanding) generic enough Yes, if that's true then it's interesting. I'm just extremely cautious of assuming that the things in question are in fact the same. I think the drug analogy does in fact hold, because if the mechanisms were the same them I would expect artificially chemically altering them to play out the same. And also in fairness, that frequently does work! But it also doesn't work in many cases, hence my being extremely cautious until somebody actually does the leg work to verify that humans are actually the same.

As it is said in the article, “Scientists exploited the fact that the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans harbors a mechanosensory complex very similar to that of humans.” So, not only in worms.

yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago

> very similar to that of humans. I hope it matches, of course, but I've seen enough rat studies to feel like that's weasel wording.

tgv 4y ago
This isn't about a drug. Those have some very specific conditions under which they have to do their thing. This is about a mechanism for transducing oscillatory forces to a neuronal signal, and it describes the exact structure. There are still holes in the pathway, but it looks very interesting to me, and (from my lay understanding) generic enough. You wouldn't say that a study into a rat's retina is completely irrelevant to human eye sight, would you?
- perth 4y ago
  Is it true that rabbit’s eyes are pretty close in structure to that of a human?
  - tgv 4y ago
    Mammals have similar retinas, but they've specialized differently. IIRC, the wiring to the visual cortex is also similar, including the optic chiasm.
- yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
  > You wouldn't say that a study into a rat's retina is completely irrelevant to human eye sight, would you? Er, probably? Not completely irrelevant, and perfectly valuable in laying out the groundwork for how we suspect things might work, but I also wouldn't trust it until somebody had it separately verified that human retinas actually worked the same way. > and (from my lay understanding) generic enough Yes, if that's true then it's interesting. I'm just extremely cautious of assuming that the things in question are in fact the same. I think the drug analogy does in fact hold, because if the mechanisms were the same them I would expect artificially chemically altering them to play out the same. And also in fairness, that frequently does work! But it also doesn't work in many cases, hence my being extremely cautious until somebody actually does the leg work to verify that humans are actually the same.