Museum Blog

Articles for author Nicole Garneau: 68

Yo Pearls of Olfaction Wisdom for James

Posted 10/20/2011 by Nicole Garneau | Comments
I was recently at a beer tasting event at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, whereupon someone remarked that a particular ale had an aroma that smelled distinctly of melon. Now I've heard, especially in wine, how particular varietals can give off odors of pepper, leather, graphite, or …
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Categories:
- Health Sciences
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- Taste
- Smell
Newly Discovered Taste Map in the Brain

Posted 10/07/2011 by Nicole Garneau | Comments
Sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami: these are the five basic tastes our visitors learn about as part of the museum's Genetics of Taste research project. It is the finely tuned array of these taste qualities which allows us to savor tasty meals or to take a sip of spoiled milk an…
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Categories:
- Health Sciences
Tags:
- Taste
- Genetics
Yo Pearl Salutes the 2011 Nobel Prize Week

Posted 10/04/2011 by Nicole Garneau | Comments
It is 2011 Nobel Prize week. It's a reminder about how incredible the human mind is, and how there is an entire world of discoveries just waiting to be made. Here's a quick look at the history of the prize and some of my favorites. In 1895, a man named Alfred Nobel in Sweden penned his l…
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- Health Sciences
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How to Make Scientists Not Boring

Posted 08/08/2011 by Nicole Garneau | Comments
I've had a collision of thoughts (mine and others) over the weekend and into this Monday morning, all dealing with scientists and communication. I love when that happens; all fronts meet in the middle and you realize that crazy idea percolating in your head is at the edge of others minds as we…
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Categories:
- Health Sciences
Tags:
- Genetics
Miracle Fruit: West Africa's Secret Berry

Posted 08/04/2011 by Nicole Garneau | Comments

Some of my fondest scientific discussions in graduate school occurred while eating lunch with fellow students and post-docs. Here we would hash out problems, discuss hypotheses, and defend the merits of our research. For me, pairing food and scientific discourse is a natural, welco…
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Categories:
- Health Sciences
Tags:
- Taste
Because Energy is Inherently Delicious

Posted 07/07/2011 by Nicole Garneau | Comments

Why Do We Like the Taste of Protein?
A recent study highlighted by a new ad campaign from LiveWell Colorado found that 1 of every 2 Coloradoans are overweight or obese. Now consider that Colorado is one of the healthiest states in our nation, that doesn't bode well for Americans as a whole…
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Categories:
- Health Sciences
Tags:
- Taste
UK Blood Test Predicts Life Expectancy

Posted 05/17/2011 by Nicole Garneau | Comments
How does a blood test tell you how long you might live? It's all in the DNA- but not the sequence of the DNA- in the replication of the DNA. Background: When cells want to divide and make daughter cells, they need to first make copies of their DNA (shown as smiley faces in the cell…
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Bitter on the Brain Update

Posted 05/10/2011 by Nicole Garneau | Comments
First it was the tongue, then the guts, then the lungs, now researchers have found evidence that there are bitter taste receptors in the brain! Why? The scientists think that the activation of bitter taste receptors in the brain increases calcium in brain cells and this increase in calcium…
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Bitter on the Brain

Posted 05/09/2011 by Nicole Garneau | Comments
Monday mornings I sort through the weekend's long trail of emails. As part of this routine, I receive my weekly search results on "chemoreception" from pubmed.gov-- an online database of biomedical publications. Usually I scan the titles and chalk it up to a "read later" file in my head- not t…
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AChemS 2011 Day 3 Chemesthesis

Posted 04/15/2011 by Nicole Garneau | Comments
New Frontiers in Chemesthesis: pronounced keem-E-thesis, think perception of pain, temperature, and touch (can be used in all sensory organs)- in the mouth it includes pain from capsaicin in hot peppers, menthol cooling sensation, and the signals are sent to the brain through cranial nerve V- …
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