Does watching someone else relieve a nagging itch spark the same impulse in you? A study in mice suggests contagious itching may have evolved as a reflex to protect animals from threats. Now, Chen and ...

Since the distal part of the intestine is targeted by a wide range of pathogens, the motility of the recto-anal region has been the object of many experimental and clinical observations. In this study ...

The otolith organs consist of the utricle and saccule. The utricle mediates the utriculo-ocular reflex by detecting horizontal head translation and static head tilt. Skew deviation is a vertical ...

A tickle in the nose can help trigger a sneeze, expelling irritants and disease-causing pathogens. But the cellular pathways that control the sneeze reflex go far beyond the sinuses and have been ...

This study investigates changes in spinal excitability using peripheral nerve stimulation. We use the Hoffman reflex (H-reflex) to assess segmental changes following a neuroplasticity-priming ...

University of Toronto researchers have discovered that the main purpose of the startle reflex -- the mechanism that makes people twitch at sudden loud noises -- is to protect the body against blows.