With around 62% of COVID patients experiencing anosmia (the loss of smell), researchers have delved into the odd science of smell. The general consensus is that, compared to other senses, we know very little about how smell operates, but we do understand its significance; for instance, we can really smell fear. In a slightly bizarre experiment, researchers took sweat samples from people who watched a funny movie and a scary movie and gave them to a different group, who were often able to correctly identify the sweat of scared moviegoers. Read full article here
Science
‘Ghostly’ neutrinos provide new path to study protons
In groundbreaking research, an international collaboration of scientists from the University of Rochester have used a beam of neutrinos to measure the size and shape of the protons that make up the nuclei of atoms. This feat, once thought impossible, provides scientists with a new way of looking at the small components of an atom’s nucleus and opens up a wealth of new information about the structure of an atom’s nucleus and the dynamics of the forces that affect neutrino interactions. The researchers solved the challenge of harnessing neutrinos in large numbers by using a neutrino detector containing a target of both hydrogen and carbon atoms, and over nine years of data collection at Fermilab’s accelerator. Read full article here
Merv
March 25, 2023
