HIGH temperatures can have a lasting effect on the nervous system, say
biologists in the US and Canada.
Nino Ramirez of the University of Chicago noticed that locusts that were
transferred from a cool climate to a hot desert had trouble flying, but if they
were given a brief heat shock before release, they could fly normally. To find
out what caused this effect, Ramirez and Meldrum Robertson of Queen鈥檚 University
at Kingston in Ontario, exposed 50 locusts to a temperature of 45 掳C for
three hours and monitored the neurons in the insects鈥� brains. They found less
potassium flowed out of the cells in heat-shocked insects (Journal of
Neurophysiology, vol 81, p 795). 鈥淐ommunication within the nervous system
is changed,鈥� says Ramirez, 鈥渁nd the same will be true in other animals.鈥�