Medical research

The neurobiology of food attraction

Animals use their sense of smell to navigate the world—to find food, sniff out mates and smell danger. But when a hungry animal smells food and a member of the opposite sex at the same time, what makes dinner the more attractive ...

Neuroscience

Sniffing out the brain's smelling power

Since their discovery over 100 years ago, neurons called tufted cells, in the brain's olfactory bulb, have been difficult to study. The close proximity between tufted cells and other neurons called mitral cells has restricted ...

Neuroscience

Quantifying how the brain smells

Scientists haven't quite decoded how animals smell, but researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) found that it's different from previously thought.

Neuroscience

Researchers identify receptors activated by odors

A group of physiologists led by University of Kentucky's Tim McClintock have identified the receptors activated by two odors using a new method that tracks responses to smells in live mice.

Psychology & Psychiatry

Scents might help depressed individuals, new study says

Smelling a familiar scent can help depressed individuals recall specific autobiographical memories and potentially assist in their recovery, discovered a team of University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers and ...

Neuroscience

What's that smell? The advantage of sniffing

Researchers led by Takeshi Imai at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology (CDB) have discovered how the physical and sensory perceptions associated with sniffing are kept separate and why sniffing can help identify odors, ...

Neuroscience

A 'time switch' in the brain improves sense of smell

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 ...

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