Solitary acoustic waves observed to propagate at a lipid membrane interface

(Phys.org) --Defining the essential character of the action potential of neurons has proven to be an elusive task. As typically happens, the biggest advances seem to have been made early on. In this case it was Hodgkin and Huxley working with the giant unmyelinated axons of squids. By squeezing out the "axoplasm" and replacing it with various concoctions these guys could isolate the effects of different ions and the channels through which they flowed. Using their data, they were able to create o...