From Los Angeles Times:Desert locusts are normally solitary individuals who eke out a meager subsistence while avoiding others of their species. But when food sources become abundant, such as after a rain, they transform into ravening packs of billions of insects that can strip a landscape bare.The key to the transformation, researchers said Friday, is the brain chemical serotonin, the chemical that in humans modulates anger, aggression, mood, appetite, sexuality and a host of other behaviors.
The locusts swarm when contact with one another triples their serotonin levels, British and Australian researchers reported in the journal Science.Serotonin at Work: On left, a locust is ready to swarm and devastate crops. On right, one is in loner mode.
It appears from this video that certain aromatic compounds can have a similar effect on human serotonin levels :
No comments:
Post a Comment