Ring neurons in the Drosophila central complex act as a rheostat for sensory modulation of aging.

Sensory perception modulates aging, yet we know little about how. An understanding of the neuronal mechanisms through which animals orchestrate biological responses to relevant sensory inputs would provide insight into the control systems that may be important for modulating lifespan. Here, we provide new awareness into how the perception of dead conspecifics, or death perception, which elicits behavioral and physiological effects in many different species, affects lifespan in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster.