Worms’ Paralysis Turned On and Off With Light
By Rachel • Nov 20th, 2009 • Category: Featured Stories, Science
by Rachel Kaufman
Published in National Geographic News
2009-11-20
If Dr. Horrible really did have a “freeze ray,” he might stop the world by zapping it with ultraviolet light, new research suggests.
After feeding a light-sensitive chemical to transparent, microscopic worms called nematodes, scientists at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia were able to paralyze the tiny creatures by exposing them to UV light.
The paralysis works because UV light changes the structure of the ingested chemical, called dithienylethene.
Upon UV exposure, the normally clear chemical turns blue, and it shuts down the worms’ metabolism, said study co-author Neil R. Branda.
Read the rest at News.NationalGeographic.com
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