Minerva

Road trauma in France is rising as cycling becomes more popular. Cycling injuries are coded as “learning” (children), “sports” (teenagers and adults injured outside towns), and “transport” (teenagers and adults in towns). Cyclists injured in towns are generally less severely injured than those injured outside towns for both cycle-only crashes and those involving motor vehicles, probably because of the lower speed limits in towns. But more internal injuries are sustained when motor vehicles are involved in either location. Legs fare worse than heads (BMC Public Health 2011;11:653, doi:10.1186/1471-2458-11-653).

In an exploration of the arrangement of smell receptors in the human nose, scientists recorded neural activity directly from the lining of noses in response to a range of odours and asking the participants to judge the pleasantness—or otherwise—of each smell. Receptors in locations where pleasant smells were best detected were likely to respond strongly to other pleasant smells. Locations that responded best to disgusting smells were likely …