Elephants and Their Noses

According to a recent paper,1 elephants may have a greater ability to differentiate smells than any other species on the planet. The conclusion is inferred from the variety of Olfactory Receptor Genes (OFGs) in the African bush elephant genome. There are many things we might extrapolate from this research and a brief report in Science…

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A Rose By Any Other Name

Shakespeare’s often quoted line suggests “that which we call a rose; by any other name would smell as sweet.” The bigger question is how does it smell as sweet? Olfaction, the sense of smell, is still not well understood. There are multiple theories regarding how we actually are able to detect smells. One leading theory…

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