Insects are able to navigate their environments because they can detect hydrocarbons and volatile odors, but it is not clear which one has the fastest reaction when detected, or how much of a response can be produced due to either one. In order to determine which category of odorant is detected first as well as which one causes the highest response rate, data on electrophysiological responses from ants was analyzed. While the statistical tests can be done to understand and answer the questions raised by the study, there are various hydrocarbons and volatile odors that were not used in the data. Conclusive evidence only applies to the odorants used in the experiments.

Staufen is a double-stranded RNA binding protein (dsRBP) with discovered homologs in a diverse range of animals, insects, and other multicellular organisms. Staufen acts on secondary structures in mRNA transcripts to modulate translation of many targets through several mechanisms of action. It has roles in microtubule-dependent subcellular localization of mRNA transcripts, translational activation, transcript stability, Staufen-mediated mRNA decay (SMD), is a known component of RNA granules, and has been implicated in several cellular processes, one being myogenesis. Mammals have two Staufen orthologs–Staufen1 and Staufen2. Staufen1 has four conserved dsRNA binding domains (dsRBDs), each with distinct functional characteristics. This study finds that cultured MuSCs show distinct patterns of Staufen1 transcriptional expression from quiescence throughout the myogenic differentiation program characterized by high expression in quiescent satellite cells, less expression in proliferating myoblasts, and fairly high, sustained expression throughout differentiation and myotube formation. The temporal expression pattern is compared with recently reported novel Staufen1 functions in myogenesis. This research highlights that Staufen1 is able to act on transcripts in several overlapping ways to assist in the regulation of myogenesis, and more extensive characterization of Staufen1 as well as high-confidence identification of Staufen binding sites (SBS), will be necessary to fit Staufen1 into a model of translational regulation in myogenesis.

Although social hierarchies are commonly found all throughout nature, the underlying mechanisms of their formation are still ambiguous. Hierarchies form through a wide range of interactions between subordinate and dominant individuals, and the ponerine ant Harpegnathos saltator provides the perfect model to explore such dominance behaviors. When the queen is absent or her fecundity levels drop below a certain threshold, H. saltator workers undergo a dominance tournament, in which several individuals emerge as gamergates, reproductive workers that are not queens. During this tournament, several characterizable dominance behaviors are exhibited (antennal dueling, dominance biting, and policing), which can be used to study the behavioral and social dynamics in the formation of a reproductive hierarchy. Colonies of 15, 30, 60, and 120 workers were created in duplicate, and their dominance tournaments were recorded to study how these interactions impact gamergate establishment. Rather than studying these behaviors as isolated incidents, responses to policing behaviors (timid, neutral, or aggressive) and their duration were recorded along with the frequency of dueling. Three groups were determined: dueling future gamergates (DFG), dueling future non-gamergates (DFNG) and non-dueling individuals (ND). DFNG received many more policing attacks and the duration of these interactions lasted much longer. DFG consistently exhibited the most dueling. Timid and neutral responses were more common than aggressive responses, perhaps due to energy conversation purposes. Peaks in dueling correspond to peaks in policing, highlighting the dynamic behavioral interactions necessary for the formation of a reproductive hierarchy.