To accommodate a lifetime of scents and aromas, mammals have hundreds of genes that each produce a different odorant receptor. The complex and diverse olfactory system they build remains adaptable, but a new study in the ...
Apr 10, 2014
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For most animals, the scent of rotting meat is powerfully repulsive. But for others, such as carrion-feeding vultures and insects, it's a scent that can be just as powerfully attractive.
Jan 16, 2014
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A difference at the smallest level of DNA—one amino acid on one gene—can determine whether you find a given smell pleasant. A different amino acid on the same gene in your friend's body could mean he finds the same odor ...
Dec 13, 2013
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According to Gertrude Stein, "A rose is a rose is a rose," but new research indicates that might not be the case when it comes to the rose's scent. Researchers from the Monell Center and collaborating institutions have found ...
Dec 8, 2013
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(Medical Xpress)—The olfactory system is a particular favorite among the many who study neural coding. One reason for this is that presentation of a single odorant to an otherwise featureless smellscape, at least in theory, ...
Researchers at the Monell Center and collaborators have identified a protein that is critical to the ability of mammals to smell. Mice engineered to be lacking the Ggamma13 protein in their olfactory receptors were functionally ...
May 6, 2013
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Within the nasal cavity, millions of sensory neurons in a postage-stamp-sized patch of tissue called the olfactory epithelium control our sense of smell. Thanks to the exquisitely controlled expression of some 300 different ...
May 18, 2012
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Just like a road atlas faithfully maps real-word locations, our brain maps many aspects of our physical world: Sensory inputs from our fingers are mapped next to each other in the somatosensory cortex; the auditory system ...
Mar 19, 2012
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The olfactory sensory neurons in the nasal mucosa perceive the myriad smells in the air with the aid of odorant receptors. Each sensory neuron chooses one and only one receptor gene for expression. The probability that a ...
Nov 11, 2011
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The latest Perspectives in General Physiology series examines the mechanisms of visual, aural, olfactory, and tactile processes that inform us about the environment. The series appears in the September 2011 issue of the Journal ...
Aug 29, 2011
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