Latest Odor Stories
BARRINGTON, Ill., Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The start of a new football season at Soldier Field has never smelled so sweet. OMI Industries, manufacturers of the Fresh Wave brand, announced today that they have signed on as a sponsor to the 2010-2011 Chicago Bears football season. Beginning with season kick-off on September 12, everything from the Chicago Bears' locker rooms to the suites at Soldier Field will be outfitted with the eco-friendly Fresh Wave odor eliminating solutions. (Logo:...
By David F. SalisburyOrigin of DEET's repellent effect confirmedIt now appears that the malaria mosquito needs more than one family of odor sensors to sniff out its human prey.That is the implication of new research into the mosquito's sense of smell published in the Aug. 31 issue of the online, open-access journal Public Library of Science Biology.The experiments described in the paper provide striking new evidence that Anopheles gambiae "“ the species of mosquito that spreads malaria that...
Crafting a fragrance for detergents that leaves laundry smelling clean and fresh. Developing a room freshener, scented oil, or scented candle that whispers "cool spring air." Giving toothpaste or mouthwash a refreshing aftertaste that lingers and lingers.The process for putting the smell that sells into thousands of consumer products is much like composing a symphony, according to maestro fragrance designer Michael Papas, who spoke at the 240th National Meeting of the American...
Neurobiologists can now activate specific nerve cells to study the association between sensations and negative experiencesIt is common sense that it's worth learning what things and situations are harmful to us if we want to have a long and healthy life. For example, after getting a nasty sunburn, we learn our lesson, and apply sun cream before going sunbathing next time. The importance of such learned avoidance strategies is reflected by the fact that even fruit flies possess them. These...
SANTA FE SPRINGS, Calif., July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The BP oil spill is exposing thousands of gulf coast residents to foul odors and elevated levels of chemicals. While the EPA found that so far concentrations are below government exposure threshold levels, it acknowledges that they can cause sensitive residents to suffer from health effects such as headache, eye, nose and throat irritation, or nausea. The EPA recommends that persons who are sensitive to these chemicals, also known as Volatile...
It's no secret that sharks have a keen sense of smell and a remarkable ability to follow their noses through the ocean, right to their next meal. Now, researchers reporting online in the June 10th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, have figured out how the sharks manage to keep themselves on course.It turns out that sharks can detect small delays, no more than half a second long, in the time that odors reach one nostril versus the other, the researchers report. When the...
Impaired ability to detect odors and irritants 2 years after buildings' collapseNew research from the Monell Center and collaborating institutions reports that workers exposed to the complex mixture of toxic airborne chemicals following the 9/11 disaster had a decreased ability to detect odors and irritants two years after the exposure."The nose performs many sensory functions that are critical for human health and safety," said lead author Pamela Dalton, PhD, MPH, an environmental...
WASHINGTON, May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (CSC) published a report on May 12, 2010 entitled "Not So Sexy - The Health Risks of Secret Chemicals in Fragrance" which includes alarmist phrases such as: "can trigger allergic reactions," "disrupt hormones," "end up inside people's bodies." The Fragrance Materials Association of the United States (FMA) says the reality is that fragrances are safe. The industry has a long and comprehensive safety testing program for its...
Heidelberg neuroscientists verify for the first time the function of inhibiting communication / Published in "Neuron"Whether different odors can be quickly distinguished depends on certain synapses in the brain that inhibit nerve stimulation. The researchers in Professor Dr. Thomas Kuner's team at the Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Heidelberg University Medical School and Dr. Andreas Schäfer at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research have shown that mice in which a certain...
These findings have implications for automated environmental toxicity monitoring and transmitting scent digitallyWeizmann Institute scientists have 'trained' an electronic system to be able to predict the pleasantness of novel odors, just like a human would perceive them "“ turning the popular notion that smell is completely personal and culture-specific on its head. In research published in PLoS Computational Biology, the scientists argue that the perception of an odor's pleasantness is...
