The insect odorant receptor gene family evolved at the base of the class Insecta before the evolution of flight and perhaps as an adaptation to terrestriality, and was therefore an important evolutionary novelty for insects.
Demonstrating extreme diversity across crustaceans while contrasting with evolutionary stability in insects, mushroom body homologues further underpin the unity of Pancrustacea and shed new light on arthropod brain evolution.
Developmental cell death plays a key role during insect neurogenesis and is increased in specific neuronal populations in flies that have evolved flightlessness.
In this episode we hear about the mating habits of flies, radiation resistance in bacteria, how insects learned to smell, and the Hawaiian bobtail squid.
