Ken Catania
Stevenson Professor of Biological Sciences | Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN, UNITED STATES
Expert on sensory systems' impact on animal behavior, particularly naked mole rats, star-nosed moles, cockroaches and eels.
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Biography
Kenneth Catania is a neuroscientist whose investigations of mammalian insectivores, particularly the star-nosed mole, provide fundamental insights into the organization of the sensory cortex. The star-nosed mole, a near-blind, wetlands-dwelling rodent, relies on fleshy tactile tendrils surrounding its nose to locate and identify prey underground. In his early work, Catania showed that the somatosensory cortex of these animals is organized in spatial maps corresponding to the sensory organ itself; this discovery represents a correspondence to the organization of the visual cortex in most other mammals. By investigating natural variations in the number of sensory tendrils, he was able to show that the somatosensory maps reorganize according to the morphology of the organ, implying that the sensory inputs themselves shape the cortical organization during development. Recently, Catania used foraging theory to show that the star-nosed mole approaches the theoretical maximum speed for locating and consuming food; he postulates that the remarkably fast neural processing of sensory input represents a necessary adaptation to the ecological niche of this insectivorous mole species. Through his integrative approach to understanding an unusual animal model, Catania generates new insights into the mammalian cortex — how it evolves, how it develops, and how it responds to changing conditions.
Kenneth Catania received a B.S. (1991) in zoology from the University of Maryland, College Park and a Ph.D. (1997) in neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Vanderbilt University (1997-1998) and served as an assistant professor (1998-2006) in Vanderbilt’s Department of Biological Sciences, prior to being named an associate professor in 2006. Catania’s articles have appeared in such journals as Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, and Nature Neuroscience.
Areas of Expertise (20)
Animal Behavior
spatial maps
rodents
Biological Sciences
neural processing
sensory cortex
mammals
Nature
star-nose mole
star-nosed mole
naked mole rats
electric eels
Eels
Cockroaches
Moles
Animal Sensory Systems
Evolution
visual cortex
evolution of mammals
Foraging
Accomplishments (5)
The Jeffrey Nordhaus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (professional)
2016
Guggenheim Fellowship (professional)
2014
Pradel Award in Neuroscience, National Academy of Sciences (professional)
2013
Ellen Gregg Ingalls Award for Excellence in Classroom Teaching (professional)
2013
Coauthor - Cozzarelli Prize Paper, PNAS (professional)
2009
Education (3)
University of California: Ph.D., Neurosciences 1994
University of California: M.S., Neurosciences 1992
University of Maryland: B.S., Zoology 1989
Links (2)
Selected Media Appearances (11)
Electric eels inspire novel “jelly” batteries for soft robotics, wearables
Ars Technica online
2024-07-17
Vanderbilt University biologist and neuroscientist Kenneth Catania is one of the most prominent scientists studying electric eels these days. He has found that the creatures can vary the degree of voltage in their electrical discharges, using lower voltages for hunting purposes and higher voltages to stun and kill prey. Those higher voltages are also useful for tracking potential prey, akin to how bats use echolocation. One species, Volta's electric eel (Electrophorus voltai), can produce a discharge of up to 860 volts. In theory, if 10 such eels discharged at the same time, they could produce up to 8,600 volts of electricity—sufficient to power 100 light bulbs.
These Tiny, Beautiful Wasps Eat the Hearts Out of Cockroaches
The New York Times online
2023-10-29
“Since the 1800s, people have sort of had this mantra that parasitoids selectively avoid eating the vital organs of their host so that they can keep it alive,” said Kenneth Catania, a neuroecologist at Vanderbilt University. “And what I have found is that this parasitoid goes straight to the heart of the cockroach, and eats it.”
Masters of worm grunting vibrate like moles to harvest bait
Popular Science online
2022-12-13
Whether by the name of worm grunting, charming, or rooping, the idea is essentially the same: make the ground shake and wait for the worms to inch their way out. The origins of the practice aren’t clear, but Vanderbilt University biology professor Ken Catania thinks it could have been an accident; someone probably created vibrations while cutting down a tree and realized that worms responded, he says. Worm grunting has been practiced around the world for many decades, and reached a peak in Sopchoppy in the 1960s and ’70s before the US Forest Service limited it to permit holders.
The strange life of the star condylure, the only mole able to hunt underwater
National Geographic online
2022-02-15
That's just a sampling of the incredible things the stellate condylus is capable of, says Kenneth Catania , a neuroscientist at Vanderbilt University. "If I often use the word 'incredible', it's because that's really what these animals inspire in me," he explains. In fact, he used that word ten times to describe them during our conversation.
Zombies, cows and coups
BBC radio
2023-09-07
We find out what trees in Chile can tell us about coups and we meet the wasp that performs a coup on a poor unsuspecting cockroach, turning it into a zombie and eating it alive.
You asked. Ars answers. Here’s how to give an electric eel an MRI
Ars Technica online
2021-12-14
It's that ability that makes giving the creatures an MRI tricky. According to Vanderbilt University biologist and neuroscientist Kenneth Catania, the creatures can vary the degree of voltage in their electrical discharges, using lower voltages (around 10 or 12 volts, akin to a car battery) for sensing their environment, navigating, and hunting. "They live in murky waters where there's not much light or visibility," Van Bonn told Ars, which is why they have such tiny eyes. The eels use higher voltages (100 volts per foot of animal, typically amounting to between 400 and 500 volts) to stun and kill prey.
The Speedy, Super-Sensitive Snouts Of Star-Nosed Moles
Connecticut Public Radio radio
2020-01-24
They might look like something out of science fiction, but star-nosed moles are real-life creatures that can be found along the East Coast, including in Connecticut. These small, furry mammals are a bit larger than a house mouse and live underground in wetlands, digging tunnels with their enormous claws. But their most distinctive feature is their pink, star-shaped nose. Ken Catania, Stevenson Professor of Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University, has studied the neurobiology of the star-nosed mole’s strange snout for decades. He told Where We Live about the science behind these incredible creatures.
The Wasp Wants a Zombie. The Cockroach Says ‘No’ With a Karate Kick.
The New York Times
2018-11-27
Like a handler leading a horse, the wasp grabs hold of the roach’s antenna and steers it into a hole. There, it lays an egg on the roach that eventually hatches into a hungry larva that chows down on the cockroach. When the baby matures, it bursts from the roach’s chest ready to continue the gruesome ritual. “It’s kind of straight out of Alien,” said Kenneth Catania, a biologist from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, “and it’s about the only thing I can think of that’ll make you feel sorry for a cockroach.”
How to Not Become a Zombie, Using Martial Arts
The Atlantic
2018-10-31
A neurobiologist at Vanderbilt University, Catania has a track record of investigating unusual animals, many of which he studies single-handedly. He has worked on star-nosed moles, tentacled snakes, naked mole rats, electric eels, crocodiles, and, er, humans. “I like getting firsthand experience about the animals I find are most interesting,” he says. “I teach about the emerald cockroach wasp, so I went ahead and got some. I thought I would just start filming them to show students and flesh out my lectures, especially the Halloween one.” His videos, filmed at high speed, showed that the wasp’s attacks are all about the pronotum. If it gets its jaws on this plate, and delivers the first sting, “it’s game over,” says Catania. That happens roughly half the time without incident, usually when the wasp takes the cockroach unawares. But often, the cockroach defends itself.
How cockroaches avoid becoming ‘zombies’ during wasp attacks
Fox News online
2018-10-31
Ken Catania, a biologist and professor at the school, videotaped interactions between the roaches and their predators — emerald jewel wasps — and studied their interactions. “It’s kind of a famous interaction in biology circles and beyond,” Catania told Fox News. An emerald jewel wasp will temporarily paralyze an American cockroach’s front legs and “weave its stinger through the cockroach’s throat into its brain,” essentially “zombifying” it, he explained.
It's Like An 'Electric-Fence Sensation,' Says Scientist Who Let An Eel Shock His Arm
NPR radio
2017-09-14
Electric eels sometimes leap out of the water to increase the power of their jolt — and one scientist has been trying to understand this behavior more fully by letting a small eel repeatedly shock his arm. Ken Catania, a Vanderbilt University neurobiologist who has been studying electric eels in his lab, recently noticed something strange whenever he tried to fish them out with a net that had a metal rim and handle. The eels would leap out of the water to attack it. "Electric eels, in my experience, had never done something like that where they come out of the water, and they did it in a very directed way," he recalls.
Selected Articles (3)
How Not to Be Turned into a Zombie
Brain, Behavior and EvolutionK.C. Catania
2018-10-31
The emerald jewel wasp (Ampulex compressa) is renowned for its ability to zombify the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) with a sting to the brain. When the venom takes effect, the cockroach becomes passive and can be led by its antenna into a hole, where the wasp deposits an egg and then seals the exit with debris. The cockroach has the ability to walk, run, or fly if properly stimulated, but it does not try to escape as it is slowly eaten alive by the developing wasp larva. Although the composition and effects of the wasp’s venom have been investigated, no studies have detailed how cockroaches might prevent this grim fate. Here it is shown that many cockroaches deter wasps with a vigorous defense. Successful cockroaches elevated their bodies, bringing their neck out of reach, and kicked at the wasp with their spiny hind legs, often striking the wasp’s head multiple times. Failing this, the elevated, “on-guard” position allowed cockroaches to detect and evade the wasp’s lunging attack. If grasped, the cockroaches parried the stinger with their legs, used a “stiff-arm” defense to hold back the stinger, and could stab at, and dislodge, the wasp with tibial spines. Lastly, cockroaches bit at the abdomen of wasps delivering the brain sting. An aggressive defense from the outset was most successful. Thus, for a cockroach not to become a zombie, the best strategy is: be vigilant, protect your throat, and strike repeatedly at the head of the attacker.
All in the Family – Touch Versus Olfaction in Moles
The Anatomical RecordKenneth C. Catania
2018-01-07
Here I review, compare, and contrast the neurobiology and behavior of the common, eastern mole (Scalopus aquaticus) and the star‐nosed mole (Condylura cristata). These two species are part of the same family (Talpidae) and have similar body size and general morphology. But they differ in sensory specializations, complexity of neocortical organization, and behavior. The star‐nosed mole has an elaborate mechanosensory organ—the star—consisting of 22 epidermal appendages (rays) covered with 25,000 touch domes called Eimer's organs. This densely innervated structure is represented in the neocortex in three different somatosensory maps, each visible in flattened neocortical sections as a series of 11 modules representing the 11 rays from the contralateral body. The 11th ray is greatly magnified in primary somatosensory cortex (S1). Behavioral studies show the star is moved in a saccadic manner and the 11th ray is a high‐resolution tactile fovea, allowing star‐nosed moles to forage on small prey with unprecedented speed and efficiency. In contrast, common mole noses lack Eimer's organs, their neocortex contains only two cortical maps of the nose, and they cannot localize small prey. Yet common moles have exceptional olfactory abilities, sniffing in stereo to rapidly localize discrete odor sources originating from larger prey. In addition, common moles are shown to track odorant trails laid down by moving prey. These results highlight the surprising abilities of species once thought to be simple, and the usefulness of diverse species in revealing general principles of brain organization and behavior.
Power Transfer to a Human during an Electric Eel’s Shocking Leap
Current BiologyKenneth C. Catania
2017-09-25
Catania tests the dynamics of the electrical circuit that develops when an electric eel leaps to electrify a threat. Even small eels use this strategy to direct the majority of their electric current through a target. Current levels and eel pulse rates efficiently activate nociceptors, providing a powerful deterrent to potential predators.
