Tag: "scent" at biology news

Bumblebees copy one another when contending with unfamiliar flowers

...nly in the context of deterrence because the small scent marks that foragers leave after emptying flowers dissuade others from visiting. In the new study, the researchers offered bumblebees the choice between several artificial-flower clusters in a laboratory setting. The bees preferred to feed from clust...

When mice choose mates, experience counts

...h a female. The females consistently preferred the scent of males linked to other females. "Our data sugge... that they even preferred the combined male/female scent when it was tainted with the scent of infectious parasites, opting for that over the scent of a heal...

New possibilities to fight pests with biological means

...pene synthase, an enzyme forming the sesquiterpene scent compounds that are released by the plant and attra...to which classes of enzymes might be important for scent production. The researchers isolated various genes encoding terpene synthases, the enzymes that pr...

Researchers show how brain decodes complex smells

...esearchers have discovered how the brain creates a scent symphony from signals sent by the nose. In studie...formation from the nose -- do not perceive complex scent mixtures as single objects, such as the fragrance of a blooming rose. Instead, these nerve cells, or...

Science captures the essence of fruit

...e for making a compound that smells like the heady scent of red roses. Dr Newcomb says HortResearch scientists are continuing to seek new gene/compound combinations which they believe will find ready demand in the marketplace. "Alongside colour, flavour and fragrance rank as some of the most important...

Contrary to common wisdom, scientist discovers some mammals can smell objects under water

...ects by sniffing alone, Catania created underwater scent trails leading to food and recorded how well the m...ar, he put a grid-work between the animals and the scent trails. The openings in the grid were too small for the star appendages to squeeze through but large...

Common algae helps illustrate mammalian brain electrical circuitry

... enter the nose, discriminating even the slightest scent and often conjuring up vivid memories. So we wanted to know how the brain decodes the presence of these chemicals in the air and turn them into a perception. It's still quite mysterious." Ehlers said that even though these experiments shed new lig...

Scientists to track impact of Asian dust and pollution on clouds, weather, climate change

... enter the nose, discriminating even the slightest scent and often conjuring up vivid memories. So we wanted to know how the brain decodes the presence of these chemicals in the air and turn them into a perception. It's still quite mysterious." Ehlers said that even though these experiments shed new lig...

Cloning the smell of the seaside

...ch as shearwaters and petrels. It acts as a homing scent ?like Brussels sprouts at the Christmas dinner table! - and the birds sniff out their plankton food in the lonely oceans at astonishingly low concentrations. Scientists have known about DMS for many years but the genes responsible for its producti...

Detecting poisons in nectar is an odour-ous task for honeybees

... to associate almost any colour, shape, texture or scent with food. The newly-sequenced honeybee genome has revealed that honeybees do not have as many genes for taste receptors as other animals of a similar size, such as flies and mosquitoes. This prompted scientists to think that perhaps honeybees had a...

Why do oysters choose to live where they could be eaten?

...oyster larvae are attracted from a distance by the scent of adults from the same species. Yet, death for a larvae captured by a feeding adult is nearly certain at greater than 90 percent. A series of experiments examining the feeding currents produced by adult oysters and how larvae actively settle on r...

New research shows sharks use their noses and bodies to locate smells

... parallel, turbulent odor plumes – one using squid scent and the other a plain seawater control. Minimally turbulent ‘oozing’ sources of squid odor and seawater control were physically separated from sources of major turbulence by placing a brick downstream from each oozing source to create two turbulent w...

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