News tagged with sense of smell
Large brains in mammals first evolved for better sense of smell
Paleontologists have often wondered why mammalsincluding humansevolved to have larger brains than other animals. A team of paleontologists now believe that large brains may have developed in mammals ...
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
May 19, 2011 |
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Birds inherited strong sense of smell from dinosaurs (w/ video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- Birds are known more for their senses of vision and hearing than smell, but new research suggests that millions of years ago, the winged critters also boasted a better sense for scents.
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Apr 13, 2011 |
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Fruit flies can detect heavy hydrogen: study
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study by researchers in Greece and the US has found that fruit flies can discriminate between normal and heavy hydrogen (deuterium) isotopes, which adds weight to a new theory of how ...
Mucus in the nose changes perception of smells
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study in Japan has shown for the first time that enzymes in nasal mucus change the way we perceive smells.
Robot with frog egg smell sensor (w/ Video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the University of Tokyo have invented a novel means of improving a robot's sense of smell, by using inexpensive olfactory sensors containing frog eggs.
New mosquito repellant could be frightening ... for the mosquitoes!
In a small, narrow, temperature-controlled lab room at Vanderbilt University live some of the most deadly and dangerous animals in the world.
Feb 28, 2012 |
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Researchers find gene critical to sense of smell in fruit fly
(Medical Xpress) -- Fruit flies don't have noses, but a huge part of their brains is dedicated to processing smells. Flies probably rely on the sense of smell more than any other sense for essential activities ...
Jan 19, 2012 |
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Carbon dioxide affecting fish brains: study
Rising human carbon dioxide emissions may be affecting the brains and central nervous systems of sea fish, with serious consequences for their survival, according to new research.
Jan 16, 2012 |
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Did a good sense of smell give us an evolutionary advantage over Neanderthals?
(PhysOrg.com) -- Our sense of smell may have been as important as language in helping to give us, modern humans, an evolutionary advantage over other human relatives such as the Neanderthals, scientists report ...
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 13, 2011 |
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Smells may help birds find their homes, avoid inbreeding
Birds may have a more highly developed sense of smell than researchers previously thought, contend scholars who have found that penguins may use smell to determine if they are related to a potential mate.
Sep 21, 2011 |
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The smell of danger: Rodent olfaction and the chemistry of instinct
The mechanics of instinctive behavior are mysterious. Even something as simple as the question of how a mouse can use its powerful sense of smell to detect and evade predators, including species it has never met before, has ...
Jun 28, 2011 |
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Ocean acidification leaves clownfish deaf to predators
(PhysOrg.com) -- Since the Industrial Revolution, over half of all the CO2 produced by burning fossil fuels has been absorbed by the ocean, making pH drop faster than any time in the last 650,000 years and ...
Jun 01, 2011 |
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Stinky feet could pave the way for better ways to stop mosquitoes
With Memorial Day weekend approaching and temperatures across the nation steadily increase to summertime highs, thoughts turn to picnics, ballgames -- and bug bites. Now, a new way of stopping mosquitoes could ...
May 27, 2011 |
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Fruit fly's response to starvation could help control human appetites
Biologists at UC San Diego have identified the molecular mechanisms triggered by starvation in fruit flies that enhance the nervous system's response to smell, allowing these insects and presumably vertebratesincluding ...
Medicine & Health / Medical research
Mar 31, 2011 |
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A common thread: No pain, no smell
(PhysOrg.com) -- In a recent study published in Nature by Jan Weiss and Frank Zufall of the University of Saarland, School of Medicine, a connection has been made between the inability to feel pain and anosmia - the inabil ...
Olfaction
Olfaction (also known as olfactics or smell) refers to the sense of smell. This sense is mediated by specialized sensory cells of the nasal cavity of vertebrates, and, by analogy, sensory cells of the antennae of invertebrates. For air-breathing animals, the olfactory system detects volatile or, in the case of the accessory olfactory system, fluid-phase chemicals. For water-dwelling organisms, e.g., fish or crustaceans, the chemicals are present in the surrounding aqueous medium. Olfaction, along with taste, is a form of chemoreception. The chemicals themselves which activate the olfactory system, generally at very low concentrations, are called odors.
For more information about Olfaction, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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