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Stories about: smell


Learn How Insects Smell

Insects do not have a sense of smell per se, in the way we define it. They respond to chemicals in their environment like humans and higher mammals do, but are not equipped with a nose, nostrils, and smell receptors. Rather, a new study has revealed, they have specialized proteins that perform about the same role. Th...

1 October 2009
14:11 GMT

Women More Sensitive to Body Odors than Men

If there ever was a man who thought he could easily mask the smell of underarm sweat with some deodorant or special anti-perspiration product without washing, he should reconsider that. A new study on women’s ability to detect body odor comes to show that they are always able to pick out the smell of sweat...

8 April 2009
14:11 GMT

Love Alters Our Sense of Smell

Love can turn our world upside-down, it is often said, with good reason nonetheless. Yet, a recent research shows that it’s not just the “world” in general that love changes, but also something as intimately ours as our sense of smell – women in particular are most affected by it, in that they...

7 January 2009
03:03 GMT

We Have a Unique Individual Smell

Past research has demonstrated that each mammal individual has a certain smell that separates it from its peers. This comes in very handy for a large number of animals in a vast series of actions, such as choosing companions for mating purposes, or delimiting one's own territory. The odor is eliminated by means ...

6 November 2008
09:08 GMT

The Smell of Outer Space

Although it might sound like another study worthy of an IgNobel award, the current research which tries to replicate the fried meat and molten metal smell of space could help astronauts get ready for outer space conditions.The sense of smell relies on the brain's area specialized in chemical interpretation of th...

17 October 2008
05:09 GMT

Mac Pros Declared Toxic

A French newspaper’s claim that Mac Pros are emitting toxic odors, including benzene, has been dismissed by Apple. Spokesman Bill Evans has told Macworld that, while the company is still investigating these allegations, there is no indication so far that Mac Pros emit toxic fumes.According to MacRumors, a scien...

2 October 2008
04:06 GMT

The Danger Sharpens Your Nose

The smell of a certain perfume can make you remember a lost love, while some stenches can bring you back unpleasant memories about an annoying ex co-worker. A new research made at Northwestern University and published in the journal "Science" shows that emotions are strongly connected to the olfactory sense, which ca...

31 March 2008
03:04 GMT

The Hounds of the Sea: Amazing Olfaction in Albatrosses

The general concept says that birds are almost devoid of olfaction. Anyway, our weak noses would make them shame. But recent researches have showed it's not like that. New World vultures and condors have a smell that would compete with that of the dogs. Experiments made on newly-hatched chickens showed that the ...

17 March 2008
05:56 GMT

Depression Makes You Lose Your Smell!

The skunk working next to you at the office may have an explanation: he may be depressed! A team from Tel Aviv University, in a research published in the journal "Arthritis and Rheumatism", has found a connection between depression and lowered sense of smell. "Our scientific findings suggest that women who are depr...

7 January 2008
03:52 GMT

How Are Homosexual Behavior, Genes and Pheromones Interconnected?

Homosexuality is regarded as unnatural, but that's nonsense: nature abounds in examples of homosexual behavior in animals. Various biological hypotheses say that the genes conferring homosexuality in human and animal males could deliver more fertile female offspring and the genes that confer high masculinity can...

10 December 2007
04:32 GMT

Unconscious Smells Tell You if You Like Somebody or Not

Just by a sniff, a dog can tell if you're a chicken or a trusty person, if it's better to avoid you or to beg for food and affection. But, a new research, made at the Northwestern University and published in the "Psychological Science" journal, showed that humans used infinitesimal scents, too, for assessi...

8 December 2007
05:02 GMT

What Causes The Stinky Breath?

Sooner or later, this problem affects about 80 % of the population, putting people in embarrassing situations, and creating frustration and sufferance. Medically, it is called halitosis, but people just call it offensive-smelling breath or bad breath.It is easy to detect the bad breath of the others, but most likely ...

9 November 2007
14:06 GMT

8 Amazing Facts about Taste

Some say that in a world of senses, taste is the queen. It is a pleasure, but also a protection that can tell the difference between what's good to eat and what could be harmful. Still, taste is so personal, that many have linked it to the personality of the individual. Some are sweet, others are not, and make a...

7 November 2007
15:26 GMT

The Skunk Behavior or Why Some People are Insensitive to Sweat Odors

You know the typical 'skunk' in each company. It can be big, hairy and very pleased at how people panic when they see him. He should know that it's not the mighty blubber-filled body that which makes an impression on them; they are rather looking for the gas mask. But don't blame him for that...as...

2 November 2007
08:08 GMT

Elephants Can Tell Their Enemies by the Smell

Not all the people are perceived in the same manner by elephants. A Maasai warrior clothing can induce dread in African elephants, driving them to the safety of tall grasses. These war shepherds occasionally spear elephants as a sign of virility (in fact, a Maasai is not considered a man till he has not killed a lion...

22 October 2007
07:22 GMT

16 Things You Did not Know about Smell and Taste

This is how we investigate the chemical composition of our environment: through smell and taste. 1.The olfactory sensors are located in the upper nose, in the olfactory mucosa. The mucosa contains millions of olfactory cells (ciliated cells). Each ciliated cell contains over 12 cilia. The mucous maintains the humidit...

9 October 2007
18:06 GMT

The First Human Gene for Detecting Pheromones Has Been Found!

Amid the fierce debate if humans do synthesize and use pheromones or not, a new research made at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., and The Rockefeller University in New York City could have detected a gene encoding for one odor receptor (of over 400 smell receptors in humans) believed to be a pheromone ...

24 September 2007
14:06 GMT

The Scent Factor in the Biological Attraction in Humans

Sexual attractiveness is much more than a look. Even if 80 % of the information we receive about our partner is visual, there is more. Researches have shown that women who look more attractive also smell better. At least at certain periods of the month, while symmetrical men, found very attractive by women, do smell ...

8 September 2007
07:06 GMT

The Breed of Double-Nosed Dogs

You may have read about animals and humans with two heads or more than four legs. But all these occurrences were determined by developmental impairments, and if those individuals survived, they usually were either sterile or had normal offspring. But what about when such an oddity is genetic? And can be transmitted f...

13 August 2007
14:06 GMT

The Newly Discovered Orchid Species Smells Like Hell

Orchids are renowned exactly for their beauty and scent. But amongst 30,000 known species, some break this rule. The most recently discovered orchid, endemic to Yosemite National Park, spreads a foul scent. It was exactly the stinky smell that attracted the attention of its re-discoverers, as the plant was first coll...

18 July 2007
05:18 GMT

Aromatic Personality with Sony Ericsson SO703i

Sony Ericsson has released a new phone with a great amount of personality at NTT DoCoMo. Not only is the SO703i model available in a great amount of case variations, but it also has one very rare feature: it has special fragrances.Motorola has also thought of putting the sense of smell in a phone model. Sony Ericsson...

2 July 2007
04:34 GMT

Bees to Detect Landmines

Balkan wars in the '90s left a "hard" inheritance: the landmines. Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and the other countries of the former Yugoslavia, were intensively mined. Over 1,000 sq km (380 sq miles) of Croatian countryside is infested by the mines. About 250,000 mines are still under ground, and made about 100 ...

31 May 2007
08:46 GMT

Sharks Smell With Their Skin!

Just a drop of blood and the place is infested with sharks: these fishes are famous for their keen sense of smell. But a new investigation made by Boston University marine biologists reveals that sharks use not only their nose in detecting the smell of their prey; they also use their skin, more precisely their latera...

30 May 2007
03:01 GMT

You Stink, But I'll Eat You

In the constant struggle between prey and predators, plants can employ the most disgusting chemical methods to keep away vegetarians. Even so, co-evolution can make herbivores bypass these defenses. Such is the case of a species of fruit fly, Drosophila sechellia, for example, which enjoys the fruit of a Polynesian s...

1 May 2007
17:06 GMT

Artificial Nano Nose Sniffs out Cancer Cells

In most mammals' case, the nose is the primary organ for smelling. As the animal sniffs, the air flows through the nose and over structures called turbinates in the nasal cavity. The turbulence caused by this disruption slows the air and directs it toward the olfactory epithelium. At the surface of the olfactor...

23 April 2007
02:47 GMT

The "New Car Smell" Proven Not to Be Harmful

You know the specific chemical plastic aroma emitted by any new car...These odors are regularly emitted from plastics, synthetic fabrics, upholstery, carpets, adhesives, paints, cleaning materials and other sources and are volatile organic chemicals. Only a small percentage of these volatile organic molecules are obv...

10 April 2007
04:31 GMT


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