(Phys.org) —If you're in the business of cracking codes, it would be pretty difficult to break into a security system that you don't even know is there. That's one of the advantages of molecular keypad locks, whose small ...
All senses must reckon with the richness of the world, but nothing matches the challenge faced by the olfactory system that underlies our sense of smell. We need only three receptors in our eyes to sense all the colors of ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 4, 2021
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Have you ever found yourself struggling to get your order taken at a crowded bar or lunch counter, only to walk away in disgust as more aggressive customers elbow their way to the front? It turns out that flies do much the ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 6, 2009
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Sharks have reputations as "super smellers" that use olfaction to detect odors related to finding prey and mates, communicating with their own species and avoiding predators. Their olfactory system is unique because it is ...
Evolution
Nov 29, 2022
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Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and UCL (University College London) have found that mice can sense extremely fast and subtle changes in the structure of odors and use this to guide their behavior. The findings, ...
Plants & Animals
May 5, 2021
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126
The world is filled with millions upon millions of distinct smells, but how mammals' brains evolved to tell them apart is something of a mystery.
Evolution
Jul 18, 2019
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311
An aphrodisiac pheromone discovered in the semen of sea lampreys attracts ready-to-mate females, according to a study publishing July 9 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Anne M. Scott of Michigan State University, ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 9, 2019
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119
There are thousands upon thousands of viruses in our various environments affecting our everyday life in a variety of ways. Many of those viruses infect humans by entering and exploiting the nasal route. Scientists at The ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jun 24, 2019
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Imagine trying to figure out how something works when that something takes place in a space smaller than a femtoliter: one quadrillionith of a liter. Now, two scientists with a nose for solving mysteries have used a combination ...
Biochemistry
Jan 1, 2019
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163
A University of Wyoming researcher and his team have discovered that separating male and female mice, over time, changes the way they smell.
Plants & Animals
Dec 19, 2018
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