Credit: Jason Ritt, PhD, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT
This frame from a time-lapse movie shows multiple traces (red) of a single rat whisker, captured at 3,200 frames per second, as it moves from left to right across a rough surface and then a smoother one. (For clarity, only every 3rd trace is shown, or about one per millisecond). +Clusters and gaps of the traces correspond to this whisker's rapid sticking and slipping movements during %7E175 milliseconds of surface contact. The lower end of the whisker trace corresponds to the rat's face, which moves closer as it encounters a change from rough to smooth texture. A video of rat whiskers in action can be seen on (url to come)