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Featured Neuroscience

·October 31, 2022·4 min read

Mapping the Path From Smell to Perception

A new brain map charts the way sensory information is routed between olfactory-processing areas of the brain.

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·October 28, 2022·4 min read

Nose Picking Could Increase Risk for Alzheimer’s and Dementia

The Chlamydia pneumoniae bacteria can travel directly from olfactory nerve in the nose and into the brain, forcing brain cells to deposit amyloid beta and inducing Alzheimer's pathologies. Researchers say protecting the lining of the nose by not picking or plucking nasal hairs can help lower Alzheimer's risks.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·October 8, 2022·6 min read

Dogs Can Smell People’s Stress

The ability of dogs to "sniff out" certain diseases including COVID-19 infection and cancer has been well documented over recent years. Now, a new study reveals dogs can detect a person's stress level by odor alone.

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·October 5, 2022·5 min read

A Nose to Diagnose: Improving Parkinson’s Diagnosis

Researchers discovered personal odors can alter in people with Parkinson's disease. Based on this, they identified specific markers for Parkinson's in sebum, an oily substance secreted from the skin. They developed a new, non-invasive swab test that can identify Parkinson's with 95% accuracy.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 5, 2022·5 min read

How the Smell of Food Can Enable “Time Travel”

Study explores the 3D printed flavor-based cues in memory recall during old age, finding the smells of certain foods from youth can prompt mental "time travel" to the past with an enhanced memory of early exposure to the foods.

This shows mitral and tufted cells in the olfactory corte

Featured Neuroscience

·September 30, 2022·3 min read

Sniffing Out the Brain’s Smelling Power

In the olfactory system, tufted cells are better at recognizing smells than mitral cells. Tufted cells are one of two parallel neural circuit loops that help the brain process different odor features. The findings shed light on how the brain takes in sensory information that influences behavior and emotion.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 26, 2022·4 min read

The Neural Cartography of Smell

The experience of every odor derives from precise circuitry in the brain.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 23, 2022·7 min read

Friend or Foe? How Mice Decide to Make Love or War

The neural circuitry that connects olfactory information about another mouse's sex to decision-making in the brain determines the behavioral outcome as to whether aggression or affection is expressed.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 22, 2022·5 min read

First Direct Evidence That Babies React to Taste and Smell in the Womb

Using ultrasound, researchers captured the facial expressions of developing fetuses in response to the taste of foods their mothers were eating. When exposed to carrots, the fetuses displayed "laughter-face" expressions, and "crying-face" expressions when exposed to kale. The findings shed new light on the development of human taste and olfactory receptors.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·August 11, 2022·6 min read

How Different Smells Can Influence the Visual Perception of Emotions

Researchers found a significant link between olfaction and visual sensory processing, reporting specific smells influence the identification of facial emotions, and facial expressions influence the emotional response to smell.

This shows a woman in a garden smelling flowers from a cherry blossom tree

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·August 3, 2022·3 min read

Smells Experienced in Nature Evoke Positive Well-being

The smell of fresh cut grass or blooming flowers appears to have a positive effect on a person's overall well-being, a new study reveals. Researchers say the smells of nature can help boost psychological well-being.