The Worm Podcast24 Sep 2025

EPISODE 29: Hidden Circuits – Mapping How Worms Really Think

Is a wiring diagram enough to understand the brain? In this episode, we dive into how researchers combined whole-brain optogenetic stimulation with calcium imaging in C. elegans to reveal functional neural connections that go beyond the traditional connectome.

Key insights include:

A new functional atlas built from ~23,000 neuron pair experiments
How neuropeptides and extrasynaptic signals contribute to brain activity
Strong functional links often exist without anatomical connections
A data-driven rethinking of how neural signals propagate and integrate
Implications for plasticity, brain evolution, and full-organism modelling

This episode sheds light on how small brains can perform complex processing — by rewiring our assumptions about wiring.

📖 Based on the research article:

“Neural signal propagation atlas of Caenorhabditis elegans”

Francesco Randi, Anuj K. Sharma, Sophie Dvali & Andrew M. Leifer

Published in Nature (2023)

🔗 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06683-4

🎧 Subscribe to the WOrM Podcast for more full-organism insights into behaviour, neuroscience, and beyond.

This podcast is generated with artificial intelligence and curated by Veeren. If you’d like your publication featured on the show, please get in touch.

📩 More info:

🔗 ⁠⁠www.veerenchauhan.com⁠⁠

📧 veeren.chauhan@nottingham.ac.uk

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(60)

EPISODE 60: Why Worms Switch Their Immune System Off

Welcome to the next episode of The Worm Podcast 🧠Today we are looking at a surprising idea in host defence:sometimes an animal is not trying to activate immunity.It is trying to hold it back.This pap...

23 Sep 22min

EPISODE 59: Food or Sex? The Worm Has to Choose

Welcome to the next episode of The Worm Podcast 🧠Today we are talking about a problem every animal faces:where should I spend my energy?For C. elegans, the answer depends partly on sex.Hermaphrodites...

16 Sep 19min

EPISODE 58: The Diet That Gave a Worm Its Copper Back

Welcome to the next episode of The Worm Podcast 🧠Today we are looking at copper, bacteria and a surprising dietary rescue.Copper is an essential micronutrient. Cells need it for mitochondrial energy ...

9 Sep 19min

EPISODE 57: AI Watches Worms Eat

Welcome to the next episode of The Worm Podcast 🤖Today we are talking about feeding.More specifically, how do you measure a worm eating when the worm refuses to stay still?The answer might be PumpKin...

2 Sep 22min

EPISODE 56: A Little Heat Makes a Stronger Worm

Welcome to the next episode of The Worm Podcast 🔥Can a little bit of stress actually make you stronger?In C. elegans, the answer appears to be yes.This episode explores heat hormesis — the idea that ...

26 Aug 20min

EPISODE 55: The Worm’s Stress Network

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱⚡Today we are looking at how one stress-response protein helps a worm adapt to changing conditions.At the centre of the story is PMK-1, the C. elegans...

19 Aug 23min

EPISODE 54: Sleep, Fat and Memory: One Neuron Does It All

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱💤Today we are looking at a single sleep-active neuron that connects far more than sleep.In C. elegans, the RIS neuron helps regulate:• sleep• lipid s...

12 Aug 20min

EPISODE 53: Worms on Pause

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱⏸️Today, we are talking about worms that appear to stop living—without dying.Researchers have identified a new, reversible state of suspended animatio...

5 Aug 26min