When you drink a soda, you may not think it has much in common with horseradish or peppers, but your body does.
New research from USC says the carbon dioxide in fizzy drinks triggers the same pain sensors in the nasal cavity as mustard or other spicy foods, though at a lower intensity. That burning sensation people feel in different degrees comes from a system of nerves that respond to sensations of pain, skin pressure and temperature in the nose and mouth.
Despite vast great differences between the atmospheres of Venus and Earth, it turns out very similar mechanisms produce lightning on the two planets. The rates of discharge, the intensity and the spatial distribution of lightning are comparable - which may help us understand the evolution of the atmospheres of the two planets.
Five hundred smiling people from around the world gathered today in the world's theme park capital to set the Guinness World Record for the biggest smiley face. Coinciding with and celebrating today's official World Smile Day(R), they formed the smiley face and stood shoulder to shoulder for ten minutes on the top parking deck of the new Amway Center mega arena, home to the NBA's Orlando Magic.
Imagine that a machine draws your blood, screens it for genetic mutations and chemical variations that can cause cancer, and then pops out a drug tailor-made for your DNA.
The hypothetical drug would target and fix the point irregularities which have accumulated over time that can lead to the formation of tumors — and cancer.
"Personalized cancer drug delivery? Depending on the approach, it could be as soon as 10 to 15 years away," says Viterbi professor Andrea Armani , an assistant professor of the Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.
Our ideal image of the perfect partner differs greatly from the one we have, according to new research from the University of Sheffield and the University of Montpellier in France.
Why would we choose partners with a different height, weight and body mass index than those we would ideally choose?
It may be that we take what we can get.
The study found that most men and women express different mating preferences for body morphology than the actual morphology of their partners and the discrepancies between real mates and fantasies were often larger for women than for men.
Stem cells help regenerate or repair damaged tissues, primarily by releasing growth factors that encourage existing cells in the human body to function and grow.
There has been an ongoing ethical controversy about human embryonic stem cell research but progress has been made nicely using adult stem cells, such as from marrow donors.
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