Scents, such as coffee, flowers, or freshly baked pumpkin pie, are created by odor molecules released by various substances and detected by our noses. In essence, we are smelling molecules, the basic unit of a substance that ...
Mar 18, 2024
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Olfactory receptors, present on the surface of sensory neurons in the nasal cavity, recognize odorant molecules and relay this information to the brain. How do these neurons manage to detect a large variability of signals ...
May 30, 2022
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With mosquito season upon us, people are stocking up on repellents to prevent itchy bites. Bug repellents are important because they don't just protect against the buzzing, blood-sucking little pests—they also safeguard ...
May 11, 2021
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Imprinting is a popularly known phenomenon, wherein certain animals and birds become fixated on sights and smells they see immediately after being born. In ducklings, this can be the first moving object, usually the mother ...
Apr 13, 2021
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A recent publication in the Journal of Neuroscience by a group of researchers at the University of Kentucky is titled "Encoding the Odor of Cigarette Smoke." Tim McClintock, a physiology professor in the UK College of Medicine, ...
Sep 30, 2020
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Scientists from the Monell Center report that functional olfactory receptors, the sensors that detect odors in the nose, are also present in human taste cells found on the tongue. The findings suggest that interactions between ...
Apr 24, 2019
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If you can tell the difference between a merlot and a cabernet franc just by smell, it's probably all in the timing.
Sep 17, 2018
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Every smell, from a rose to a smoky fire to a pungent fish, is composed of a mixture of odorant molecules that bind to protein receptors inside your nose. But scientists have struggled to understand exactly what makes each ...
Aug 29, 2018
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Nisha Pradhan was seven when she began to suspect she was missing out on something. Her sister seemed to have an uncanny knack for predicting what their mother was making for dinner. Pradhan, meanwhile, never had a clue.
Oct 11, 2017
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When the brain processes olfactory stimuli, it differentiates between similar smells using subtly modulated signals. Brain examinations and behavioral studies in mice have now shown that neurons with inhibiting characteristics ...
Jul 8, 2016
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