Flies and other insects use the scent of ammonia to find food sources. Mosquitoes find humans to bite by following the faint scent of ammonia in our sweat, along with other clues. Many crop pests do the same, locating fruit and agricultural products to infest and consume. Knowing exactly how the insects smell ammonia might yield effective ways to block them from following that scent plume—and from finding us and our crops.
But figuring out exactly how and what a fly smells is tricky. Then they let the ammonia waft. But the fly was obviously smelling it.
It was covered in ammonia transporter Amt a molecule that is known to allow ammonia in and out of cells. No one had ever known a transporter molecule to also act as an odor receptor. More information Privacy policy. This site uses cookies to assist with navigation, analyse your use of our services, collect data for ads personalisation and provide content from third parties. By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
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The content is provided for information purposes only. First observation of an inhomogeneous electron charge distribution on an atom 1 hour ago. Related Stories. Wildfires, smoke snuff out outdoor adventures across US Sep 05, Aug 11, Jul 06, Desiraee De Verneuil. Yes, it's true. A fly could smell meat over that distance, although only under very, very favourable conditions. To get this data, the scientists had to tag and release , flies, of which only 0. Seven kilometres is not only a considerable distance to smell something, for a tiny fly, simply traveling 7 kilometres is a major effort, taking several days.
Even so, flies are able to detect a smell of rotting meat over long distances. The exact distance depends on many factors such wind conditions, size of the meat and landscape features. For flies to smell something 7 kilometres away, it nevertheless has to be a substantial piece of meat like a herd of dead elephants rotting away in the Sun, or an entire poultry farm. How do flies manage this? Well, it involves no magic - simply, a very good sense of smell. Flies like all other insects detect odours with their antennae which are densely colour in hair-like structures containing olfactory sensory nerve cells.
These nerve cells are extremely sensitive to volatile chemicals, odours that is. And in the case of flies that feed on the dead and decaying flesh, so-called carrion flies, their olfactory cells are also optimised towards detecting cadaver odours Skip to main content.
The sense of smell may be linked to the cellular ageing process in many other organisms — even people. A link has recently been found between sensory experiences and lifespan in both worms and flies.
Why is this so? For example, cutting the amount of food consumed lengthens the lifespan of yeast , mice and monkeys , and keeps a variety of diseases at bay in people. They left the rest of the olfactory system intact.
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