The moth and the air freshener: The secrets of scent
21.05.12
"From an early age, I was fascinated by what I could smell and how I reacted to it and by how flavor works and things like that," said John G. Hildebrand, a Regents' Professor in the University of Arizona's department of neuroscience . "And I was fascinated by insects."
His childhood interests would lead him into a life-long career dedicated to figuring out how insects perceive taste and smell, how their brains process them and how they elicit certain behavioral responses .
Hildebrand has been elected to serve on the Council of the National Academy of Sciences, after having been a member of the academy for almost five years. Election to membership in the academy is considered one of the highest honors a U.S. scientist or engineer can achieve.
"I was surprised enough to be nominated," Hildebrand said. "It was even more surprising and flattering to be elected, and I'm still stunned by it."
The appointment to the council, the academy's governing body, is for three years, starting July 1, and is a "working assignment, not an honorific one," he said. "The academy has to govern its own business, has to run its own finances and has to raise its own money."
Source: Medical Xpress