Abstract:

Animals are capable of performing an amazing set of actions. In many species, particularly invertebrates (although scarily also humans), a large percentage of the behavioral repertoire is comprised of stereotyped behaviors—actions that are seen again and again across time and individuals. I will discuss our recent work trying to uncover how these behaviors are actuated and controlled in the wiggling nematode worm C. elegans and the dancing fruit fly D. melanogaster.