Last month, researchers... reported in work published in the journal Science that they'd used cutting-edge techniques to track sensory signals that underlie wet dog shakes from receptors on the skin to a part of the brain called the parabrachial nucleus.
The shaking behavior can be evoked by activating a class of sensory neurons called C-LTMRs and, conversely, the number of wet dog shakes evoked by mechanical stimuli decreases when C-LTMRs and the parabrachial nucleus are muted.
Though unseen in humans, the motion is universal among fur-bearing mammals, serving as something of an early warning system that insects, dirt, water, and other substances are about to come into contact with the skin.
In humans, Ginty compared it to feeling a bug landing on your arm: You may jerk your arm or flick at it with your other hand with little thought, but it can be controlled if desired.
Collection
[
|
...
]