April 7, 2000

Mutant Flies Reveal Gene Behind Hearing

By LILA GUTERMAN

By bending bristles on mutant fruit flies, biologists have glimpsed the molecules that control hearing and touch in flies, and possibly also in humans. When sound waves push on tiny hairs in the inner ear, neurons attached to the hairs convert the pressure into electrical and chemical signals that travel to the brain. But until now, scientists didn't know how that occurred at the molecular level, and the hair cells in the human ear are difficult to study.

So

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