In answer to the question “How many monofenestratan pterosaurs are named after famous cartoonists?”, Improbable hazards a guess that the answer is :“One”. Being : Cuspicephalus scarfi which is named (say its describers David Martill and Steve Etches of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Portsmouth, UK) “After artist/cartoonist Gerald […]
Tag: nose
Physiology: Why Rudolph’s Nose is Red
A new Dutch study explains the likely physiology of Rudolph the reindeer’s red nose: “Microcirculatory investigations of nasal mucosa in reindeer Rangifer tarandus (Mammalia, Artiodactyla, Cervidae): Rudolph’s nose was overheated,” Ben van der Hoven, Eva Klijn, Michel van Genderen, Willem Schaftenaar, Lisette L. de Vogel, Ditty van Duijn and Erwin J.O. Kompanje (a member of the […]
“Mouth to Nose Merging System”
A new “Mouth to Nose Merging System” (the crucial components of which can be seen in the diagram above) has been developed by a joint research team from L’UNAM Université and Université de Caen France. The researchers having noted that : “The relations between odour and texture notably are not very clear and results from […]
Making cheese from humans’ foot, nose, armpit bacteria
“Make hay while the sun shines, but make cheese from places where it does not” is the unstated them of a project described in Christina Agapakis‘s Harvard PhD Thesis (and described more colorfully on her web site): “Descriptions of human body odors often overlap with those of cheese; Propionibacterium used to make Swiss cheese is a major […]
Nasal topsy-turvyism examined
More than one scientific investigator has examined the implications of misplaced facial attributes in drawings. [Example] But fewer have drawn attention to the implications of a facial attribute which actually is misplaced (rather than just in an illustration). What would happen for example, if one’s nose was upside down? This question was asked – and […]
Verbal Smell References In Radio Advertisements
“You can almost smell the smoky and delicious aroma of your steak grilling to perfection” – says the radio ad for your local restaurant. But can you really ‘almost smell’ the aroma when you hear the ad? If so, how could you quantify that? A team of investigators at Virginia Tech have investigated just such […]
Recognitions – part 1 – Where is the nose?
“An important issue in face recognition research is whether faces are recognized on the basis of their individual features or more holistically, on the basis of their overall shape.” To clarify, researchers professor James Tanaka, now at the University of Victoria, Canada, and professor Martha Farah University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, decided to show […]
Pork, the surprise (yet traditional) remedy for a nosebleed
A new medical study recommends a method called “nasal packing with strips of cured pork” as an effective way to treat uncontrollable nosebleeds. Ian Humphreys, Sonal Saraiya, Walter Belenky and James Dworkin [pictured here], at Detroit Medical Centre in Michigan, treated a girl who had a rare hereditary disorder that brings prolongued bleeding. Publishing in […]
Mysterious withdrawal: Nose-breathing paper
An author of this study yanked it back, making only the cryptic comment “Hi, I just wish to withdraw this paper from the site until further notice. Thanks.” The abstract remains online: Discriminating between Nasal and Mouth Breathing Authors: Kevin Curran, Peng Yuan, Damian Coyle (Submitted on 24 Aug 2010 (v1), last revised 25 Aug […]
The quest for an ideal nose
“The ‘ideal’ nose is a nose that is in harmony with the other favorable features of your face.” Explains Dr. Daniel G. Becker, M.D., F.A.C.S. Clinical Associate Professor and Director of Facial Plastic Surgery at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology : Head and Neck Surgery, of the University of Pennsylvania, and Medical Director of the Becker […]