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It turns out space helmets serve a dual purpose - to keep air in and stink out. Just like Earth, the universe emits various smells from every corner of the never-ending universe, often of which are generally unpleasant, Space.com reported, citing numerous space expeditions over the decades. Although it is impossible to take a whiff of the cosmos without facing certain death, astronauts have long described strong odors clinging to their space suits after they return to their air-locked chambers. Metallic, burnt meat Those aboard the Apollo moon landings described the scent as gunpowder-like, while others who traversed the International...

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...

Hillary Clinton's former campaign chairman John Podesta on Tuesday tamped down on speculation that the former Democratic presidential nominee may seek another White House bid in 2020, calling the idea "media catnip" and stressing that Clinton "is not running." "She says she's not running for president," Podesta said on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront." He added that the former secretary of State was currently "in Puerto Rico trying to help the people, that Donald Trump has abandoned, through the Clinton Foundation. Trying to bring some relief to the people of Puerto Rico." "I take her at her word. She's not running...

Booze isn’t just for drinking anymore. Just in time for summer, one company has released a line of deodorants that smell like your favorite alcoholic beverages. ... The limited edition brunch boxed set from Native Cosmetics includes scents like Rosé, Mimosa and Sangria. ... A three-pack sells for $30 online, including shipping.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, June 22 (UPI) -- Blasts from two female suicide bombers at a crowded fish market in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri killed at least 20 people Monday, witnesses said. Sources told the BBC that the two women, who were wearing suicide bomb vests, had disguised themselves as beggars in an attempt to enter the market unnoticed.

There are signs that liberals are making a comeback — and not just because a socialist is running for president, gay marriage is spreading like wildfire and pot legalization is gaining acceptance. A new analysis of Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll data finds a marked increase in the share of registered voters identifying themselves as liberals, and an even bigger drop in the share saying they are conservatives. In three national polls conducted so far in 2015, the analysis found that 26% of registered voters identified themselves as liberals — up from 23% in 2014. At the same time, the...

Christmas could rightly be called the holiday of the senses. It is the season of lights and tinsel, choirs and carols, the aroma of pine and roasting chestnuts. Christmas comes to us with sumptuous meals, hearty laughter, and kisses beneath the mistletoe. Christmas scenes — by the old masters and by modern advertisers — decorate the walls of museums, billboards on the roadside, and cards in the mailbox. For nearly 2,000 years, the world has marked the birth of Jesus Christ as its most festive jubilee. No other day of the year offers the world so many earthly pleasures. But...

<p>President Obama's aides went to extraordinary lengths to uncover the identity of a senior official who was using Twitter to make snarky comments about White House staffers.</p> <p>Jarrett, an old Chicago friend of both Barack and Michelle Obama, appears to exercise such extraordinary influence she is sometimes quietly referred to as “Rasputin” on Capitol Hill, a reference to the mystical monk who held sway over Russia’s Czar Nicholas as he increasingly lost touch with reality during World War I.</p>

Friends and former Brooklyn neighbors recalled Miriam Carey as a hardworking single mother who had every reason to live. “She had everything going for her,” said Yolanda Napoleon, 40. “A beautiful baby, a man helping her with her baby, a job making 100k per year. Her child was her everything.” Carey, 34, was a dental hygienist who was licensed in both New York and Connecticut. She lived in Brooklyn as recently as 2005 and had a condo in Stamford, Conn. Friends, who grew up with her and her four sisters on Stanley Avenue in Brooklyn, were mystified about how Carey’s...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation's top special operations commander ordered military files about the Navy SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden's hideout to be purged from Defense Department computers and sent to the CIA, where they could be more easily shielded from ever being made public. The secret move, described briefly in a draft report by the Pentagon's inspector general, set off no alarms within the Obama administration even though it appears to have sidestepped federal rules and perhaps also the Freedom of Information Act

On August 6, 2011, a military helicopter— Extortion 17— carrying thirty-eight men (including twenty-five of the elite SEAL Team 6, five National Guard and Army Reserve, and eight Afghan commandos) was shot down over Taliban-controlled territory in eastern Afghanistan. They had been on a top secret mission to take out a high-value target. It was the worst loss of life in a single day since the war in Afghanistan began. Per a 1250-page military report, it was simply the result of a “lucky shot” by Taliban soldiers perched on top of a building. Per families of those killed and military...

Scratch 'n Sniff Mailers: Loretta Sanchez Smells BadOct 25 2010, 1:40 PM ET The Hotline reports that, in the ethnically charged race for California's 47th congressional district, scratch 'n sniff mailers are being deployed to insinuate that incumbent Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D) is smelly: Assemb. Van Tran (R) "is sending out a scratch-and-sniff direct mail piece attacking" Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D) "that features a hideous odor emanating from it." The mailer: "Open for a fragrance sample of 'Loretta, The Scent Of Washington.'" The mailer, on the inside: "Something smells rotten about Loretta. It's the stench of Washington." "Below that is...

Bacteria are well-known to be the cause of some of the most repugnant smells on earth, but now scientists have revealed this lowest of life forms actually has a sense of smell of its own. A team of marine microbiologists at Newcastle University have discovered for the first time that bacteria have a molecular "nose" that is able to detect airborne, smell-producing chemicals such as ammonia. Published today in Biotechnology Journal, their study shows how bacteria are capable of 'olfaction' – sensing volatile chemicals in the air such as ammonia produced by rival bacteria present in the environment. Led by...

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Anti-hunger aromas that make one feel full could help fight the global obesity epidemic, scientists now suggest. Everyone is familiar with scents that arouse the appetite, as well as odors that turn the stomach. But apparently molecules that make up a food's aroma can also activate areas of the brain that trigger the feeling of fullness. As people chew food, scents wafting up to the back of the nose from inside the mouth help quench the sensation of hunger, food technologist Rianne Ruijschop at NIZO Food Research in Ede, The Netherlands, and her colleagues found. "These were quite unexpected results,"...

Worried that a trip to Japan might be ruined by the stench of feline halitosis? Convinced that a weekend break in Paris will be all the more memorable for a sniff of herbal soap? Time, then, to consider membership of the Smell Club. The club's website (Japanese language), is the brainchild of a Japanese firm with an overdeveloped interest in all things nasal, and tags different odours around the world, pinpointing them on a map. Since its launch last month, the site has gathered more than 160 odours in 68 locations, submitted by 200 members who call themselves "smellists". The...

CBS News' : (NASHVILLE, TENN.) - After most of the previous 12 months covering Barack Obama's campaign for the presidency, it was interesting, instructive and, well, relaxing to follow John McCain for the last few days. The differences between the two are striking. Obama is the big time orator, McCain is the guy who struggles with a teleprompter or even note cards strategically placed nearby. Obama's crowds are larger, more enthusiastic. McCain's events are smaller, but to my eye, better choreographed. And now with the addition of Sarah Palin to some of his events, McCain can boast of crowds that...

Reduced ability to name smells by hyperactive children has revealed for the first time a link between an impaired smell processing and the disorder. The one-year-study of 88 children aged six to 16 - 44 with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - was led by the University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children's Research Institute. It shows how the children with ADHD had reduced ability to identify odours. The study was published in September's Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. The study involved using scratch and sniff tests of common smells such as orange, chocolate and pizza. Felicity Karsz of University of Melbourne's...

SAN FRANCISCO - Scientists announced Monday the discovery of a rare — and stinky — orchid species that flourishes only in the wet meadows of a beloved portion of Yosemite National Park. Botanist Alison Colwell said the species' minute, tennis-ball yellow flowers weren't what first led her to it, but rather the smell of sweaty feet that the Yosemite bog-orchid emits to attract pollinators. "I was out surveying clovers one afternoon, and I started smelling something. I was like, 'Eew, what's that?'" said Colwell, who works for the U.S. Geological Survey in El Portal. "It smelled like a horse corral...

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad got an anonymous text message suggesting he didn't wash enough, he did not take it lying down. He fired the president of the phone company, had four people arrested, took other legal action and accused those involved of conspiring with the Israeli foreign intelligence service Mossad, according to the Iranian opposition website Rooz Online. The website says Ahmadinejad, known throughout the world as a hard-liner who has threatened Israel with destruction and questioned the Holocaust, is the target of many barbs among the populace in his country.