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Article: Heavy metals play key role in ability to smell, researchers find.(St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- February 24, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Tina Hesman
ST. LOUIS _ Heavy metal smells.
While it may sound like music criticism, the conclusion is actually a new scientific model that may explain for the first time how humans and other mammals detect odors.
Scientists at the University of Illinois have discovered that odor-sensing proteins, called olfactory receptors, may owe much of their stink-detecting capabilities to heavy metals such as zinc or copper.
The discovery is based on simple knowledge that inorganic chemists have had for a long time, but biologists have largely overlooked _ things that bind to metals smell strongly and badly.
"Inorganic chemistry ...