A team of biomedical researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, San Jose State University and the University of Pennsylvania has found that nematodes need sleep in order to consolidate their odor memories by remapping olfactory synapses. In the study, reported in Cell, the group studied nematodes and the behavior of synapses during sleep.

— Read more in Experiments with nematodes find they need a nap to consolidate odor memories at Phys.org.

Flies, Clark and Emonet concluded, must sense the motion of odor packets, as Emonet calls discrete clumps of odor molecules. Think about this for a second: When you smell the neighbor’s barbecue, can you tell whether the smoke particles passing your nose are traveling from left to right, or right to left? It’s not obvious. But a fly can tell — and olfaction researchers have previously overlooked this possibility.

— Read more in Scientists Are Trying to Figure Out How Animals Follow a Scent to Its Source at Smithsonian.

Flying insects, such as moths in search of a mate, adopt a “cast-and-surge” strategy, which is a form of anemotaxis, or response based on air currents. When a male moth detects a female’s pheromones, he will immediately start flying upwind, assuming there is a wind. If he loses the scent — which probably will happen, especially when he is far away from the female — he will then start “casting” from side to side in the wind. When he finds the plume again, he will resume flying upwind (the “surge”) and repeat this behavior until he sees the female.

— Read more in How animals follow their nose at Knowable Magazine.