Genetics

Olfactory neurons adapt to the surrounding environment

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 ...

Medical research

Nose's response to odors more than just a simple sum of parts

Take a sniff of a freshly poured glass of wine, and the prevailing scientific thinking would suggest that the harmony of fragrances involves sensory receptors in the nose simply adding up the individual odors they encounter. ...

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.

Genetics

Mapping the neural circuit of innate responses to odors

A team of neuroscientists at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown (CCU), in Lisbon (Portugal), has performed one of the first studies into the central neural circuits (or higher brain areas) that underlie innate responses ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

The human sense of smell: It's stronger than we think

When it comes to our sense of smell, we have been led to believe that animals win out over humans: No way can we compete with dogs and rodents, some of the best sniffers in the animal kingdom.

Neuroscience

Fish courtship pheromone uses the brain's smell pathway

Research at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan has revealed that a molecule involved in fish reproduction activates the brain via the nose. The pheromone is released by female zebrafish and sensed by smell receptors ...

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