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 […]

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 […]

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