Sea lampreys--invasive, leechlike creatures that once nearly destroyed the Great Lakes' fishing economy--are kept in check by a small U.S.-Canadian program. Will it survive Trump's slash-and-burn campaign? Ally Porter walked ahead of me as we sidestepped down a steep, loamy embankment. Our path lit only by headlamps, a waning sliver of moon, and what seemed to be thousands of stars, we made our way to a mucky riverbank about twenty feet below. At one point, I lost my footing and ended up wedged against a tree trunk. Porter, who had two tight braids that landed just below her shoulders, kept going. She moved with ease through several inches of sludge, toward a yellow glow stick tied to a tree at the water's edge.

Scientists at the Biorobotics Laboratory (BioRob) in EPFL's School of Engineering are developing innovative robots in order to study locomotion in animals and, ultimately, gain a better understanding of the neuroscience behind the generation of movement. One such robot is AgnathaX, a swimming robot employed in an international study with researchers from EPFL as well as Tohoku University in Japan, Institut Mines-Te le com Atlantique in Nantes, France, and Universite de Sherbrooke in Canada. The study has just been published in Science Robotics. "Our goal with this robot was to examine how the nervous system processes sensory information so as to produce a given kind of movement," says Prof. Auke Ijspeert, the head of BioRob and a member of the Rescue Robotics Grand Challenge at NCCR Robotics. "This mechanism is hard to study in living organisms because the different components of the central and peripheral nervous systems* are highly interconnected within the spinal cord. That makes it hard to understand their dynamics and the influence they have on each other."

Scientists have found a way to control the human brain using a protein lurking inside a creature known as'vampire fish' that has lived on Earth for hundreds of millions of years. US scientists used a protein from a lamprey, which is an ancient lineage of jawless fish similar to eel, to turn off brain circuits associated with addiction, anxiety and depression. Researchers took a gene from the protein, called parapinopsin, and found they were able to control it in the way neurons communicate with each other. Parapinopsin also responds to light, allowing scientists use beams of light to turn off the circuit or reactivate it alter reward behaviors - which could lead to brain implants to deliver treatment. Those suffering with addiction, anxiety and depression may have often wished if they could just turn off their brain and the latest discover could soon make that happen.

When turkeys strut, their leg muscles work as shock absorbers to boost energy efficiency. That gam action inspired a prosthetic exoskeleton for humans: The lightweight contraption is outfitted with a spring and clutch that take the impact off the user's calf muscle. In experiments, a person wearing the braces while walking expended 10 percent less energy. Neurons along the creature's spinal cord can act independently via signals called central pattern generators, or CPGs. A slithering machine inspired by the lamprey, the AmphiBot, has 10 body modules, each with its own onboard computer that mimics a CPG.

This year's historic gush of water through California's rivers brings the dawning of a renaissance for lampreys, a peculiar fish that migrates upstream to spawn but without the fanfare of its salmon and steelhead compatriots. While the critters' nocturnal life and brown, camouflage bodies make them largely invisible to even the most veteran fishermen and paddlers, their sheer abundance has led to more sightings? Watching the lampreys scale the side of Van Arsdale Dam, or opt for an adjacent fish ladder built for spawning salmon, Goodman acknowledged that the fish are a bit off-putting. The Pacific lamprey, native to the state and dating back to before the dinosaurs, doesn't bite humans and provides a slew of environmental benefits. While biologists believe this year's surge of lampreys is tied to high river flows after a near-record wet winter, the fact is they don't know for sure.