How do we smell? The answer lies in the 1,000 or so genes that encode what's known as olfactory receptors inside our noses.
Plants & Animals
Mar 4, 2014
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Out of the estimated 23,000 or more genes in the human genome, about 100 of them will differ—they will be present or not—between any two individuals. Genes lost or gained over time result from evolution and adaptation, ...
Biotechnology
Aug 9, 2013
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The turtle has always been considered somewhat odd in evolutionary terms. In addition to lacking the hole in the skull—the temporal fenestra—that is characteristic of the egg-laying amniotes, the structure of its shell ...
Ecology
Jun 28, 2013
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When a mouse smells a cat, it instinctively avoids the feline or risks becoming dinner. How? A Northwestern University study involving olfactory receptors, which underlie the sense of smell, provides evidence that a single ...
Biotechnology
Apr 29, 2013
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(Phys.org)—A new study of the sense of smell lends support to a controversial theory of olfaction: Our noses can distinguish both the shape and the vibrational characteristics of odorant molecules.
Other
Sep 19, 2012
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Now that the summer season is in full swing, many of us will be hosting picnics and barbecues and socializing outside. Chances are, we'll also have some unwanted guests in the form of mosquitoes.
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 2, 2012
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(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 such as finding ...
Biotechnology
Jan 19, 2012
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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 ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 28, 2011
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(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.
Darwin's finches - some 14 related species of songbirds found on the Galapagos and Cocos Islands - will forever be enshrined in history for having planted the seeds of the theory of evolution through natural selection. Today, ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 6, 2010
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