http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- British scientists are aiming to develop a device that can detect the smell of fear, and that could one day identify terrorists, drug smugglers, and other criminals. http://www.physorg.com/news176452932.html Technology Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:42:59 EST news176452932 Your nostrils may seem to be a happy pair, working together to pick up scents. However, a study published online on August 20th in Current Biology reveals that there can actually be a kind of rivalry between the two. http://www.physorg.com/news169993741.html Biology Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:40:02 EST news169993741 Using a "neurologger" specially designed to record the brain activity of pigeons in flight, researchers reporting online on June 25th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, have gained new insight into what goes through the birds' minds as they fly over familiar terrain. The study is the first to simultaneously record electrical brain activity integrated with large-scale navigational movements of free-flying birds, according to the researchers. http://www.physorg.com/news165152728.html Biology Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:46:07 EST news165152728 (AP) -- He was like millions of other consumers who sometimes take vitamins or echinacea, hoping to build up his immunity or ward off a cold. He figured alternative remedies were as safe as a spoonful of honey. But that notion washed away with one squirt of a homeopathic cold gel. http://www.physorg.com/news164510052.html Medicine & Health Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:00:01 EST news164510052 (AP) -- Consumers should stop using Zicam Cold Remedy nasal gel and related products because they can permanently damage the sense of smell, federal health regulators said Tuesday. http://www.physorg.com/news164379978.html Medicine & Health Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:20:01 EST news164379978 Sick people often lose their sense of smell and their appetite. If this happened to mosquitoes, they would not be able to feed on humans and spread malaria. A team of Penn State entomologists is looking for an insect disease that will infect mosquitoes and impair their sense of smell. http://www.physorg.com/news160921411.html Biology Thu, 07 May 2009 13:24:06 EST news160921411 To date, it has been unknown exactly how mammals are capable of sniffing out whether a conspecific is ill. The biologists Prof. Marc Spehr and Daniela Flügge are following a good lead. They have discovered that a messenger substance of the immune system that attracts defence cells to the affected site in bacterial infections also responds to receptors in the vomeronasal organ (VMO, Jacobson's organ). This organ, which has hardly been studied to date, reacts to pheromones and is also held responsible for spontaneous aversion or attraction when selecting a partner. The results of this study on the newly detected receptor family FPR (formyl peptide receptor) within the olfactory system have been published in the current Internet edition of Nature. http://www.physorg.com/news160905741.html Biology Thu, 07 May 2009 09:02:48 EST news160905741 The sense of smell is a complex process of the central nervous system that involves specific areas of the brain. In fact, olfactory dysfunction is seen in various central nervous system disorders that involve immune-mediated mechanisms, such as Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease that sometimes involves the central nervous system in a condition known as neuropsychiatric SLE (NPSLE). http://www.physorg.com/news160322968.html Medicine & Health Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:10:09 EST news160322968 When threatened, many animals release chemicals as a warning signal to members of their own species, who in turn react to the signals and take action. Research by Rice University psychologist Denise Chen suggests a similar phenomenon occurs in humans. Given that more than one sense is typically involved when humans perceive information, Chen studied whether the smell of fear facilitates humans' other stronger senses. http://www.physorg.com/news155571328.html Medicine & Health Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:23:10 EST news155571328 (PhysOrg.com) -- Many individuals with Parkinson`s disease are able to recall losing their sense of smell well before the onset of more commonly recognized symptoms such as tremors, impaired dexterity, speech problems, memory loss and decreased cognitive ability. To determine if a fading sense of smell may signal Parkinson`s, researchers at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Northwestern University`s Feinberg School of Medicine are participating in a national study to examine the correlation and ascertain whether smell loss presents a tool for early detection of the disease and an opportunity to delay or ultimately prevent more troublesome symptoms. http://www.physorg.com/news151689638.html Medicine & Health Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:03:50 EST news151689638 As Americans prepare for a day without cigarettes and tobacco products as part of the American Cancer Society Great American Smokeout (R) (November 20), new research gives them more reasons to extend that break to a lifetime, according to the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF). Among the new research presented at the organization's annual meeting in September 2008 are studies that link cigarette smoking and upper airway symptoms ("smoker's nose"), the loss of smokers' ability to smell common odors, and most alarming, the role second-hand smoke plays in the rise of cases of "environmental laryngitis." http://www.physorg.com/news144940543.html Medicine & Health Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:15:43 EST news144940543 Although we know quite a bit about the lifestyle of dinosaur; where they lived, what they ate, how they walked, not much was known about their sense of smell, until now. http://www.physorg.com/news144483753.html Biology Wed, 29 Oct 2008 07:22:33 EST news144483753 Research into tobacco dependence published online today in the November issue of Addiction, has shown that recent ex-smokers who find exposure to other people's cigarette smoke pleasant are not any more likely to relapse than those who find it unpleasant. http://www.physorg.com/news143457147.html Medicine & Health Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:12:27 EST news143457147 It's not just bomb-sniffing dogs; animals everywhere rely on their sense of smell. Now, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Rockefeller University researchers show just how important olfaction is, proving that fruit flies with a normal sense of smell have a survival advantage over those that don't. The findings, to appear in the July 31 advance online issue of Current Biology, may be useful in controlling insect populations and reducing insect-borne disease. http://www.physorg.com/news136738765.html Biology Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:59:25 EST news136738765 The sense of smell might indeed be as important to birds as it is to fish or even mammals. This is the main conclusion of a study by Silke Steiger (Max Planck Institute for Ornithology) and her colleagues. The sense of smell in birds was, until quite recently, thought to be poorly developed. Recent behavioural studies have shown that some bird species use their sense of smell to navigate, forage or even to distinguish individuals. http://www.physorg.com/news135432690.html Biology Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:11:30 EST news135432690