nick
11-02-2005, 21:13
Winter colds can give you a blocked up nose that stops you from smelling fresh winter air, roasting nuts, warm gajar ka halwa and other seasonal fragrances.
Now researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have not only discovered how air moves through the nose bringing you those smells but their work may lead to new ways of unblocking it and helping you to breathe more easily.
The researchers have also found out that the airflow through the human nose is more complicated than that over a jumbo jet's wing.
The scientists at Imperial College London have combined biological mechanics and aeronautical engineering to construct transparent 3D models of the nose, and by running water or a special refractive-index-matched fluid through the models they have been able to map the flow pattern through the nasal cavity to work out where air goes when taken in.
"From quiet breathing to rapid sniffing, we want to know exactly what is happening," said Professor Bob Schroter, leadauthor of the study.
"People are used to the flows around an aeroplane being complicated but that is in some ways simpler than understanding the flows inside the nose. The geometry of the nose is highly complex, with no straight lines or simple curves like an aircraft wing and the regime of airflow is not simply laminar or turbulent," added Denis Doorly, co-author of the study.
The research is a significant step forward from what had been learned about the nose from studying cadavers and animals, and may soon be helping surgeons plan their operations and drug companies to develop new ways of delivering drugs through the nose straight into the bloodstream, as well as new products to unblock the nose.
Now researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have not only discovered how air moves through the nose bringing you those smells but their work may lead to new ways of unblocking it and helping you to breathe more easily.
The researchers have also found out that the airflow through the human nose is more complicated than that over a jumbo jet's wing.
The scientists at Imperial College London have combined biological mechanics and aeronautical engineering to construct transparent 3D models of the nose, and by running water or a special refractive-index-matched fluid through the models they have been able to map the flow pattern through the nasal cavity to work out where air goes when taken in.
"From quiet breathing to rapid sniffing, we want to know exactly what is happening," said Professor Bob Schroter, leadauthor of the study.
"People are used to the flows around an aeroplane being complicated but that is in some ways simpler than understanding the flows inside the nose. The geometry of the nose is highly complex, with no straight lines or simple curves like an aircraft wing and the regime of airflow is not simply laminar or turbulent," added Denis Doorly, co-author of the study.
The research is a significant step forward from what had been learned about the nose from studying cadavers and animals, and may soon be helping surgeons plan their operations and drug companies to develop new ways of delivering drugs through the nose straight into the bloodstream, as well as new products to unblock the nose.