New understanding of how nerves control movement
Researchers have studied how nerves in the spinal cord work together to coordinate movements. The preliminary results show that the nerve cells function completely differently than what the researchers have hitherto thought. To understand the function of nerve cells, it is not enough to look at the individual nerve cells, but one must look at the entire network, and here the researchers get surprising results, which are the basis for a whole new model for coordination of nerve signals.
However, there is still a long way to go before the results are generally accepted and tested by other researchers. From the current understanding to being able to explain what happens when a tennis player hits a ball down the court or a football player kicks on goal, we are still at the beginning, the researchers say.
Science journalist Jens Degett interviews Rune Berg and Henrik Linden from the Berg Lab, Department of Neuroscience of the University of Copenhagen (in Danish).
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