Wellnews by Scott LaFee

Nostrils come in pairs and, on the face of it, would seem to be a happy coupling, working together to help you make scents of the world.

A new study suggests otherwise. Researchers at Rice University say nostrils wage a kind of continuous rivalry. Like eyes and ears, nostrils pick up sensory cues at slightly different times and intensities. A smell, for example, will arrive in one nostril slightly sooner and stronger than in the other.

Typically, the brain integrates different incoming sensory information to form a single, stable, accurate representation. "When the eyes simultaneously view two different visual images, one for each eye," study author Denise Chen says, "we perceive the two images in alternation, one at a time." Similarly, different tones played to each ear are experienced as a single tone oscillating from ear to ear.

It was thought nothing quite so complicated happened with our sense of smell, which is deemed less prominent in human perception. But nostrils also demand their own, individual face time with the brain, requiring the latter to alternate its exclusive attention before a complete olfactory picture of the world can be formed.

BODY OF KNOWLEDGE

Smokers have fewer and flatter taste buds, resulting in a lessened ability to taste.

GET ME THAT. STAT!

Alcohol manufacturers say they try to avoid advertising on TV shows where the audience is 30 percent or more underage viewers, such as children's programming. They may be drinking something.

A new study from UCLA and the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth says teens see plenty of alcohol advertising, especially on cable TV, which attracts about 95 percent of all nationally televised alcohol ads.

Researchers found that for each 1 percentage point increase in adolescent viewership, there was a 7 percent increase in beer ads, a 15 percent increase in spirits ads and a 22 percent increase in low-alcohol drinks and so-called "alcopops" intended to mimic juices and sodas.

Only wine advertisers reduced advertising as teen viewership numbers rose.

NUMBER CRUNCHER

A single serving of spaghetti with Mizithra cheese topping (384 grams) at the Old Spaghetti Factory contains 1,010 calories, 576 from fat.

It has 64 grams of total fat or 98 percent of the recommended total fat intake for a 2,000-calorie daily diet.

It also contains 180 milligrams of cholesterol (60 percent); 1,150 mg of sodium (48 percent); 74 grams of total carbohydrates (25 percent); 4 g of dietary fiber (16 percent); and 37 g of protein.

MEDTRONICA

Codeblog

codeblog.com

Inside stories from the life and times of an intensive care nurse, with links to other, similar blogs.

STORIES FOR THE WAITING ROOM

A new study suggests excessive exercise may be physically addicting. But before any couch potatoes use this as an excuse, they should know the study involved rats and was related to prolonged, extreme exercising. As with food and other things in life, moderation remains the key.

PHOBIA OF THE WEEK

Potamophobia — fear of rivers or running water

OBSERVATION

If you say you didn't know cigarettes were bad for you, you're lying through that hole in your trachea.

— Comedian Dennis Miller

LAST WORDS

I believe we should adjourn this meeting to another place.

— Scottish philosopher and economics pioneer Adam Smith (1723-1790). Presumably no one else at the meeting followed his suggestion.

To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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