Mapping the social landscape

(Weizmann Institute of Science) Scientists have, in recent decades, pinpointed neurons called 'place cells' in our brains that encode our own location in the environment, but how our brains represent the positions of others has been a mystery. New Weizmann Institute of Science research in bats, which was published today in Science, reveals a sub-population of neurons that encode the specific location of other bats that are flying nearby.