A Universal Scaling Law of Mammalian Touch
| Autor: | Thomas D. Montenegro-Johnson, James W. Andrews, Michael Adams |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Physics
0303 health sciences Scaling law Evolutionary Biology Multidisciplinary integumentary system SciAdv r-articles Multiple species 03 medical and health sciences symbols.namesake 0302 clinical medicine Classical mechanics symbols Rayleigh wave Constant (mathematics) 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Research Articles 030304 developmental biology Research Article |
| Zdroj: | Science Advances |
| ISSN: | 2375-2548 |
| DOI: | 10.1126/sciadv.abb6912 |
| Popis: | Across mammals, vibration mechanoreceptors are located at a universally scaled depth. For most mammals, touch is the first sense to develop. They must feel vibrations on the surface of their skin to enable them to respond to various stimuli in their environment, a process called vibrotaction. But how do mammals perceive these vibrations? Through mathematical modeling of the skin and touch receptors, we show that vibrotaction is dominated by “surface” Rayleigh waves traveling cooperatively through all layers of the skin and bone. Applying our model to experimental data, we identify a universal scaling law for the depth of touch receptors across multiple species, indicating an evolutionarily conserved constant in the sensation of vibrations. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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