Worms' nervous system shown to alert immune system in Stanford studies
Tuesday, October 14, 2008 - 12:21
in Biology & Nature
The nervous system and the immune system have something in common. Each has evolved to react quickly to environmental cues. Because the nervous system is able to detect some of these cues - say, a characteristic odor signaling a pathogen's presence - at a distance, it sometimes can sense trouble earlier than the immune system, which has to wait until the pathogen invades the organism.