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One huge advantage of drones is that these little robots can go places where people can’t, including areas that might be too dangerous, such as unstable structures after a natural disaster or a region with unexploded devices. Researchers are interested in developing devices that can navigate these situations by sniffing out chemicals in the air to locate disaster survivors, gas leaks, explosives and more. But most sensors created by people are not sensitive or fast enough to be able to find and process specific smells while flying through the patchy odor plumes these sources create. Now a team led by...

Sexual chemicals affect how we identify an androgynous figure. Women and men can sniff out the opposite sex via odorless pheromones, a new study suggests. The discovery adds another piece to the growing body of evidence that humans, much like the rest of the animal kingdom, know more from their noses than previously thought. "We know that for animals, chemosignals are actually the most used signals to communicate, whereas with humans, we think chemosensation is not really used," said study leader Wen Zhou, a psychologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. "But based on our experiences, they are...

The final frontier smells a lot like a Nascar race—a bouquet of hot metal, diesel fumes and barbecue. The source? Dying stars, mostly. Though a pure, unadulterated whiff of outer space is impossible for humans (it’s a vacuum after all; we would die if we tried), when astronauts are outside the ISS, space-borne compounds adhere to their suits and hitch a ride back into the station. Astronauts have reported smelling “burned” or “fried” steak after a space walk, and they aren’t just dreaming of a home-cooked meal. The smell of space is so distinct that, three years ago, NASA reached...

Entomologists at the University of California, Riverside working on fruit flies in the lab have discovered a novel class of compounds that could pave the way for developing inexpensive and safe mosquito repellents for combating West Nile virus and other deadly tropical diseases. When fruit flies undergo stress, they emit carbon dioxide (CO2) that serves as a warning to other fruit flies that danger or predators could be nearby. The fruit flies are able to detect the CO2 and escape because their antennae are equipped with specialized neurons that are sensitive to the gas. But fruits and other important food...

Source: University Of California - Berkeley Date: October 9, 2007 Pleasant Odors Perceived The Same By Different Cultures Science Daily — Chinese, Africans and Indians may differ in what odors they find yummy, but they all perceive pleasantness in the same way, according to the findings of neurobiologists from the University of California, Berkeley, and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. A research subject hooked up to an olfactometer that delivers a whiff of scent to the subject's nose. (Credit: Rehan Khan/UC Berkeley) The findings shed light on a long-standing philosophical as well as scientific question: Is the...

Corning, N.Y. -- You can definitely smell it, but you can't see it. The United States Department of Agriculture has released reports stating that when you smell cow manure, you're also smelling greenhouse gas emissions. That will be the focus of new research that might happen right here in the Southern Tier. Agriculture Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, Mark Rey, was in Corning Wednesday morning at the Big Flats Plant Materials Center to annouce the award of nearly $20 million in Conservation Innovation Grants to fund 51 research projects across the country designed to refine new technologies helping...

NOW that the mystery smells of Manhattan have abated, are you still wondering whether the Grim Reaper’s cologne will smell like maple syrup or rotten eggs when he comes for you? Don’t worry, because here’s the thing: the more powerful the stench, the less likely it is to do harm. Indeed, the smell that’s typically associated with natural gas is deliberately put in to warn you of its otherwise odorless presence — you’ll call Con Edison before it all goes bang. In this case, it is not the thing that smells that will harm you, but the thing that doesn’t...

THE mysterious odor that blanketed Manhattan on Jan. 8 remains, well, a mysterious odor. Last week, officials in New York and New Jersey gave up on finding the source of the smell. But we haven’t, and we think we can support one of the theories of the odor’s source that has been suggested. Based on our familiarity with the local aquatic environment and regional meteorology, we believe that the odor was caused by gases released from saltwater marshes in the metropolitan area. Let us explain. The intertidal sediments in this region are home to micro-organisms that produce sulfur compounds. When...

URBANA, Ill. - The University of Illinois plans to use a $251,000 grant presented by the state attorney general's office Thursday to test techniques and technology to control hog farm odors. "Finding solutions to reduce emissions that are both effective and cost-effective and won't reduce the competitiveness of our swine industry in Illinois is obviously of critical importance to swine producers. It's also of importance to people who live near swine facilities," said Michael Ellis, an animal sciences professor at the university, who is leading the research. The grant comes from an antitrust settlement reached in 2000 with several vitamin...

A proposed odor index has Wisconsin Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Board members treading on thin ice regarding livestock-siting regulations they sent to hearings earlier this month. It's difficult to criticize the comprehensive livestock-siting rules package, which was created after an exhaustive effort by an advisory committee, technical panel, legislators, state agency officials and many others. There's no doubt that the Wisconsin livestock industry has come to the table like never before to try to address the issue. But there is still a snag in the proposed rules that will most certainly be a problem when the debate picks up...

<p>DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- There's a new defense against odors that waft from factory farms. It's the Nasal Rangers -- a group of state employees specially trained to sniff out smells and determine which of them are too stinky.</p>