Posts Tagged Health
Scent scientist talks in Brooklyn Sept. 3
Folks in the New York City area will be interested in next week’s meeting of The Secret Science Club. Neuroscientist Leslie Vosshall will be talking all about smell. She’s head of Rockefeller University’s Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior, as well as an investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and her current studies are are all about scent. Dr. Vosshall will be talking about scent, sexual attraction, and global health.
The Secret Science Club
Wed., September 3, 2008
basement of Union Hall
702 Union St. @ 5th Ave
Park Slope, Brooklyn
718-638-4400
Doors open at 7:30 p
Lecture at 8
Cost: FREE
More at the Secret Science Club
Add comment August 27, 2008
Skin odors used to identify cancer
According to scientists at the Monell Institute, skin cancer has a distinct odor. A recent report details the odor profile for basal cell carcinoma, determined via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry techniques. This is the first research to identify and quantify the details of such odors. Such odor profiling will eventually allow cancer detection with an electronic nose, perhaps before visible symptoms are present. (Picture the tricorder used in the TV show Star Trek.) Current methods for skin cancer diagnosis involve surgical biopsy, something that can only be done after a tumor is visible. Monell scientists continue to work on gathering data for profiles of other, more dangerous forms of skin cancer.
Read more at Physorg.com
Add comment August 20, 2008
Testing developed for measuring kids’ ability to smell
Until recently, there were no good tests available for measuring the ability to smell in children. Available studies were too lengthy for kids, and measured response to odors that kids hadn’t necessarily been exposed to, even if they could smell them. A new study has changed all that. Australian scientists found 16 different odors that most kids ages 5-7 can identify. The 16 odors represent 4 sections of the palate: salty, bitter, sour, and sweet. (There was no mention in the study of the fifth category umami, the savory taste for which receptors are available everywhere on the tongue.) The 16 odors represented include floral, orange, strawberry, fish, chocolate, baby powder, paint, cut grass, sour, minty, onion, Vicks Vapo-rub, spicy, antiseptic, cheese, and gasoline. Because of the study, several standard smell and taste tests are now able to diagnose the level of smell and taste function in young children.
Read more in Medical News Today
Add comment August 16, 2008
Birth control pills affect scent-based attraction
A recent UK study found that birth control pills impact a woman’s likelihood of sniffing out a genetically compatible mate. While it’s considered best, genetically and reproductively speaking, to choose a mate whose scent (determined by genes) is different, women in the study preferred men whose scent was similar to their own. The researchers who performed the study have some interesting theories about possible problems that could result, including fertility problems and breakups after the woman goes off the pill due to the resulting loss of scent-based attraction. The pill is apparently mirroring a function that happens when women are pregnant or no longer of mating age. Given that women usually take the pill because they don’t want children, it sounds like the pill is doing its job.
Read more at MSNBC
Add comment August 15, 2008
Olfactory processing defects mark predisposition to schizophrenia
Olfactory defects can indicate susceptibility to schizophrenia, according to a new study. Unaffected first-degree relatives of people with schizophrenia were tested and compared to mentally healthy individuals with no family history of the disease. Findings revealed marked impairments in olfactory sensory processing among the first group, showing genetic predisposition to schizophrenia, even in the absence of symptoms.
The University of Pennsylvania study was recently published in the journal Schizophrenia Research. The research team, led by Bruce Turetsky, had previously showed that first-degree relatives of people with schizophrenia have reduced olfactory bulb volumes.
Read more at Psychiatry Matters
Add comment August 5, 2008
Kids associate alcohol odors with drinking mom’s emotions
Scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center have done a study showing that kids’ response to the smell of alcohol is related to the reasons their mothers drink it. The study presented kids with pairs of odors, and the kids chose which odor they preferred. Kids of mothers who were classified as “escape drinkers” were more likely to prefer the unpleasant scent of rotten eggs over beer, while kids of mothers who were not “escape drinkers” preferred the beer scent. The study was published in the journal Alcohol.
Read more at Monell.org
Add comment August 2, 2008
VOC-emitting air fresheners exposed by UW study
The dangers of cheap, home air fresheners and scented laundry products are being examined by a recent University of Washington study. Looking specifically at solid disk, liquid spray and plug-in air fresheners, as well as scented laundry products, the study found emission of several toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) classified as toxic or hazardous by US federal law. The offending compounds include ethanol, ethyl acetate, benzaldehyde and acetone.
Discoveries like this one are good news for the higher-tech, commercial ambient scenting industry, which is implementing technologies that allow scenting without VOCs. (See our post of July 16, “Public space scenting: Is it safe? Is it green?“)
Read more in Chemistry World
Add comment July 30, 2008
