…this is a question that I have to imagine most of us have never really asked. But the next time you smell someone’s amniotic fluid (why wouldn’t you?), make sure to check and see if they’ve had garlic. Mennella et al. “Garlic ingection by pregnant women alters the odor of amniontic fluid”. Chemical Senses, 2013.
The human body is a versatile thing. So versatile that receptors that we usually think of as being important for taste…are also important in your SPERM. On the tongue, it’s sweet or savory. In the testes…infertility. At least in mice. Head over and check it out!
Naked mole rats have a tough time getting cancer. Even though they have incredibly long lifespans for rodents, living up to 30 years (as compared to mice, which only live four years under the best conditions), they don’t tend to develop the cancers that are seen in other rodent species like mice, rats, and guinea […]
I was truly devastated by the news from the Boston Marathon yesterday. This kind of senseless violence perpetrated at what has always been such a positive, peaceful, joyful gathering is just too horrible to describe. Scientific American is covering many aspects of this kind of event, from the wonderful behavior of fellow runners (acting against […]
As a distance runner, I see a lot of nutritional advice. As we get more serious about running, more serious about decreasing our times, increasing our distance, and other measures of “performance”, we start haunting forums and websites, places that refer to food as “fuel”. You hear a lot about “pre-race fuel”, “post-race fuel”, “post-workout […]
I think we’ve all had that kind of pain. A headache, maybe, or an injury. The kind of pain…that THROBS. You know what I mean. When I get one of those throbbing headaches, it’s like every beat of my heart is pushing the blood up through my brain, and with the blood comes another throb […]
I realize this study is SO last week, which is about two months in dog years and a decade in internet years, but seeing as I’m about to lend my dulcet tones and my delicate opinions to Skeptically Speaking on this topic, I feel I must needs blog this paper. That, and it’s about coffee. […]
At Scientific American, I’m talking about a cool poster I saw on Day 2 of the Experimental Biology conference, where a chemical called Dif-1 from slime mold may be able to attack estrogen receptor alpha positive breast cancers! Head over a check it out.
I get cold after I run. Really, REALLY cold. I’m sitting here, preparing to write a blog post on thermoregulation. I finished a good run a while ago. The temperatures outside weren’t too extreme (50ish degrees F, so comfortable for a good run), and I was sweating freely when I finished. About an hour later, […]
Sci is at Sci Am Blogs today, talking about a new paper on locomotor efficiency. We’re some pretty efficient walkers and runners at specific paces. But what does that mean for our individual muscles? Find out and check it out!