Sense

'Bionic' arm gives amputee sense of touch

Impressive impact factors prove that BioMed Central's Open Access journals are high quality and widely read and cited. Journals published by BioMed Central have again received impact factors that compare well with equivalent subscription titles, it was announced today, with five titles in the top five of their specialty. The high impact factors for these journals affirm that they are respected by...

To translate touch, the brain can quickly rearrange its sense of the body

The brain is bombarded by information about the physical proportions of our bodies. The most familiar sensations, such as a puff of wind or the brush of our own shirt sleeve, serve to constantly remind the brain of the body's outer bounds, creating a sense of what is known as proprioception. In a new study, researchers report this week that the brain's ability to interpret external signals and up...

Fighting malaria by manipulating mosquitoes' sense of smell

Combating the spread of malaria by manipulating the mosquitoes' sense of smell is the object of an ambitious research project, led by Vanderbilt University, that has been selected to receive $8.5 million as part of the Grand Challenges to Global Health. The initiative, which was launched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has just announced the selection of 43 "groundbreaking" resea...

Monkeys understand numbers across senses

Monkeys can match the number of voices they hear to the number of faces they expect to see, Duke University scientists have found. The finding indicates that numerical perception is truly an abstract concept and not just a function of a particular sense, said the researchers. The experimental approach also will lead to further studies exploring whether human infants, before they have a verbal cap...

Bacteria which sense the Earth's magnetic field

Max Planck researchers uncover how a nanoscale 'compass' inside bacteria orients them to the Earth's magnetic field. The entire bacterium is oriented like a compass needle inside the magnetic field. Until now, it was not clear how the cells organise magnetosomes into a stable chain, against their physical tendency to collapse by magnetic attraction. But using modern molecular-genetic and i...

New study examines how sense of smell affects mating and aggression in mice

New research by scientists at UCSF sheds light on how the odor detecting system in mice sends signals that affect their social behavior. "Understanding how mice process cues from the olfactory system--which regulates the sense of smell--should provide insight into the fundamental principles that mammalian brains use to transform sensory information into behavior," says lead investigator N...

Navigating the brain for sense of direction as paradigm for higher cognitive functions

No matter how healthy a life one leads, no person has managed to live much longer than a century. Even though the advances of the modern age may have extended the average human life span, it is clear there are genetic limits to longevity. One prominent theory of aging lays the blame on the accumulation of damage done to DNA and proteins by “free radicals,?highly reactive molecules produced by the...

Duck-billed dino crests not linked to sense of smell

After decades of debate, a U of T researcher has finally determined that duck-billed dinosaurs' massive but hollow crests had nothing to do with what many scientists suspected -- the sense of smell. Speculation about their function has led to theories that the crests functioned as everything from brain coolers to snorkels for underwater feeding. Now, David Evans, a PhD student in zoology a...

UF scientists trace origin of shark's electric sense

Sharks are known for their almost uncanny ability to detect electrical signals while hunting and navigating. The discovery, reported by University of Florida scientists in the current edition of Evolution & Develop...

Evolutionary scrap-heap challenge: Antifreeze fish make sense out of junk DNA

Scientists at the University of Illinois have discovered an antifreeze-protein gene in cod that has evolved from non-coding or 'junk' DNA. Since the creation of these antifreeze proteins is directly driven by polar glaciation, by studying their evolutionary history the scientists hope to pinpoint the time of onset of freezing conditions in the polar and subpolar seas. Professor Cheng will present...

Gold nanoparticles could improve antisense cancer drugs

In the fight against cancer, antisense drugs, which prevent genes from producing harmful proteins such as those that cause cancer, have the promise to be more effective than conventional drugs, but the pace of development of these new drugs has been slow. Using gold nanoparticles combined with DNA, scientists at Northwestern University now have demonstrated a new method for developing anti...

Researchers discover how bacteria sense their environments

When humans taste or smell, receptors unique to each nerve cell detect the chemical and send signals to the brain, where many cells process the message to understand what we are smelling or tasting. But a bacterium is just a single cell, and it must use many different receptors to sense and interpret everything around it. Bacteria can sense in their environments changes in molecular conce...

Robotic whiskers can sense three-dimensional environment

Many mammals use their whiskers to explore their environment and to construct a three-dimensional image of their world. Rodents, for example, use their whiskers to determine the size, shape and texture of objects, and seals use their whiskers to track the fluid wakes of their prey. Two Northwestern University engineers have been studying the whisker system of rats to better understand how...

Wired for sound: How the brain senses visual illusions

In a study that could help reveal how illusions are produced in the brain's visual cortex, researchers at the UCSD School of Medicine have found new evidence of rapid integration of auditory and visual sensations in the brain. Their findings, which provide new insight into neural mechanisms by which visual perception can be altered by concurrent auditory events, will be published online in the A...

Smell may outlast other senses

About 1000 Australian males and females of all ages were tested for their ability to detect or identify a range of different odours at different concentrations, and then given an overall score for their sense of smell, or olfactory function. The results showed that olfactory function deteriorates relatively slowly with age in those who do not smoke, take medications or have a history of...