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- Sweet Confusion: Does high fructose corn syrup deserve such a bad rap?
- Closed Thinking: Without scientific competition and open debate, much psychology research goes nowhere
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- Better chow yields more milk: A more nutritious form of corn for dairy cows boosts farm profits, teen investigator finds
- Fuzzy future: Kids may suffer impaired vision from spending too little time outdoors, studies suggest
- Building with moon rocks: Working on the moon with lunar soil and grit could prove easier, more efficient and less costly than using earthly materials
Web edition: May 5, 2012
Doctors and scientists don’t fully understand coughing. But recent studies suggest that nerve cells in the body’s airways may point to a new way to treat coughing. Nerve cells are messengers: They send information from parts of the body to the brain, and from the brain back to the body. On the outside of nerve cells are molecules called receptors. Irritants like smoke and pollen that get inside the body’s airways through the mouth and nose stick to these receptors. Then the nerve cell sends a message to the brain, and the brain responds with a clear order to the body:
Cough!
Scientists are investigating these nerve cell receptors because if they can be blocked — at least for a while — then maybe the coughing will stop.
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Citations
L. Beil. Throat therapy. Science News, Vol. 181, April 21, 2012, p. 22. Available online: [Go to]
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