News by Subject Medicine & Health

Scientists from the Monell Center report that functional olfactory receptors, the sensors that detect odors in the nose, are also present in human taste cells found on the tongue. The findings suggest that interactions between the senses of smell and taste, the primary components of food flavor, may begin on the tongue and not in the brain, as previously thought.

Using varying combinations of banana and pine scents, University of Pennsylvania professor Jay Gottfried discovered that three key brain regions help humans navigate from one odor to the next. The work points to the existence of a grid-like hexagonal architecture in the olfactory brain, similar to mapping configurations previously found to support spatial navigation in animals.

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that leads to progressive brain cell death and extensive loss of motor function. Despite much research being conducted on this disease, there are no definitive diagnostic tests currently available. Now, researchers report the identification of compounds that make up the signature odor of the disease with the help an individual who can detect Parkinson's through smell. They report their findings in ACS Central Science.

The human body is full of mucus. This viscous goo isn't just a nuisance that gets coughed up or sneezed out -- it can bind to drugs, toxins or microbes, potentially impacting human health. However, relatively little is known about such interactions. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Biomacromolecules say they have developed a new way of analyzing mucus binding that could lead to better drug development.

Our noses may be able to adapt themselves to tell the brain, as efficiently as possible, about the most typical smells in our environment, suggests new research published in eLife.