Latest news with #Uchiyama
Boston Globe
6 days ago
- Science
- Boston Globe
Your cat may or may not love you, but it knows your scent
Get Love Letters: The Newsletter A weekly dispatch with all the best relationship content and commentary – plus exclusive content for fans of Love Letters, Dinner With Cupid, weddings, therapy talk, and more. Enter Email Sign Up Through referrals from friends and colleagues, the researchers recruited 30 cats and their owners to participate in the study. The cats' owners captured their own scents by rubbing cotton swabs behind their ears, between their toes and under their armpits. Eight additional people who don't own pets and didn't know the cats' owners were recruited to be 'odor donors.' Advertisement Each of the study cats, in the comfort of its own home, was then presented with an array of test tubes containing the smelly cotton swabs from its owner, a stranger and a blank control. A camera mounted to the experimental setup recorded the cats' reactions to the test tubes. Advertisement The cats spent more time sniffing the samples from the strangers than from their owners -- an indication that the cats could recognize their owners' scents and devoted more time to exploring the ones they'd never smelled before. While this finding might seem like common sense, it's 'a very important piece of information,' said Dr. Carlo Siracusa, an associate professor of animal behavior at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine who was not involved with the study. 'This is how science works. You need to prove everything.' A Black Silver Turkish Angora relaxed between judging sessions at the Catsachusetts show in April. Uchiyama and his colleagues further analyzed video recordings of the cats sniffing the test tubes and observed the cats predominantly using their right nostrils to smell the strangers' test tubes, regardless of where the tube was placed within the array. These findings seemed to corroborate previous studies of other animals, including dogs, which also led with their right nostrils when exploring strange scents. 'The left nostril is used for familiar odors, and the right nostril is used for new and alarming odors, suggesting that scenting may be related to how the brain functions,' Uchiyama said. 'It is likely that the right brain is preferred for processing emotionally alarming odors.' Related : Siracusa urged caution in interpreting whether the cats' sniffing behavior relates to brain function. 'The study did not prove that the right side of the brain is activated,' he said. Proving that will require cats willing to cooperate with having their brains scanned while they sniff things. While further research is needed to confirm whether the nostril cats use to smell people is a window into the feline mind, Siracusa said that studies like Uchiyama's are important for furthering human understanding of feline behavior, which can help us provide better care for them. He also remarked on the logistical feat of designing a study protocol deemed acceptable by its feline participants. Advertisement 'I really commend this group of scientists for being successful in engaging 30 cats in doing this stuff,' Siracusa said. 'Most cats want nothing to do with your research.' This article originally appeared in .
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
1 storm, 1,400 closures: Rebuilding roads after a devastating hurricane
For months, Interstate 40 in western North Carolina was cut off following the devastation of Hurricane Helene. In February, part of the interstate reopened, but only for drivers who need to use it, and at a reduced speed. There were more than 1,400 road closures and 10 million cubic yards of debris removed from roads and waterways. It's been eight months, and WNC continues to face the aftermath of the most damaging and costly natural disaster in the state's history. Rebuilding has been arduous, and nowhere is that more evident than the work it took to reconnect I-40 from North Carolina to Tennessee. 'Our IMAP crews start driving from the Asheville side and noticed no traffic was coming through, so they know there's a problem. They got together with other local officials and opened a gate and sent traffic back to the Tennessee line,' said David Uchiyama with the North Carolina Department of Transportation. 'Without that emergency response in the moment, I have zero doubt that people would have died. The reconstruction was a historic operation that took 126 days. Although the road hasn't been fully rebuilt, the massive undertaking of opening one lane in each direction was monumental for commuters and for commerce. Some businesses are still feeling the impacts of the storm. Cass Santander with Explore Asheville says that even with 97% of the roads being partially or fully reopened, tourism is down. 'Seventy-five percent of hospitality and tourism-facing businesses are reopened, and there is a determination and grit to come back better than ever, and it's an exciting time to come and visit,' Santander said. Some roads are still struggling to reopen. Highway 64, for example, is still closed from Lake Lure through Chimney Rock and Bat Cave. Roads in Yancey County will likely take years to rebuild. 'Yancey County was one of the more devastated areas because of the rivers,' Uchiyama said. 'The Cane River, Nolichucky River that flow through it, just wiping out everything along its way.' So how do we prepare for future storms? Uchiyama says it's not about preparation, but more about resilience. 'Design standards have changed over the decades. So anything that is newer is better. And anything that is going in new now is going to be better than anything built even five years ago,' Uchiyama said. But through the noise of the bulldozers and the debris still lingering, what was once seen as a near-impossible task of rebuilding has transformed into inspiring stories of what can be achieved. (VIDEO: FEMA offers to sell temporary housing units to WNC families displaced by Hurricane Helene)
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Is I-40 still closed? Interstate 40 at Tennessee/North Carolina border to open this spring
After a months-long closure of Interstate 40 at the North Carolina and Tennessee state line, the highway is expected to reopen this spring. I-40 through the Pigeon River Gorge has remained closed since late September when Hurricane Helene ripped through the region, leaving mass devastation in the storm's wake. Helene temporarily closed or damaged thousands of roads in both Tennessee and North Carolina. The storm triggered at least 10 collapses alone across a 9-mile stretch of I-40 in North Carolina. Originally, the highway was going to reopen to traffic in "early 2025," however, another chunk of the road fell away from an eastbound lane in December, further delaying the possibility of establishing the traffic flow so soon. Once the highway is deemed safe, I-40 across the state line will reopen in directions, according to David Uchiyama, spokesperson for the North Carolina Department of Transportation. The heavily traveled four-lane highway will be reduced to just two narrowed lanes. This will accommodate eastbound and westbound traffic while leaving space for crews to work on long-term repairs with the goal of eventually opening the important route through the Appalachians. Additionally, vehicles traveling through the gorge will have to obey a 40 mph speed limit. This logistical information has not changed since it was announced in November. Commercial vehicles will be allowed to use the reopened highway, according to Uchiyama. NCDOT and the Tennessee Department of Transportation are working together. Tennessee will open its side of the highway at I-40 Mile Marker 451 to the state line once North Carolina is "ready to handle traffic again," according to TDOT spokesperson Drew Rutherford. "TDOT and NCDOT have been and will continue to meet regularly to coordinate recovery efforts," Rutherford said. There will likely be congestion when I-40 reopens at the state line, according to Uchiyama. He "highly recommends" that drivers use an alternate route to travel between Tennessee and North Carolina. To stabilize and reopen a portion of I-40 has taken NCDOT months. To fully repair I-40 at the gorge, it will take years, according to Uchiyama. NCDOT hired Wright Brothers Construction, with GeoStabilization International as a sub-contractor, to stabilize the eastbound lanes, according to an NCDOT press release. Uchiyama said fully restoring I-40 could take "multiple years." "We are barely 10% into designing the reconstruction," Uchiyama said. Still, you're unable to drive across the Tennessee state line into North Carolina on I-40. In Tennessee, there is one lane of traffic open in each direction between Mile Marker 446 and Mile Marker 451 at the state line. Commercial traffic cannot go any further than Mile Marker 440 on I-40 East, according to TDOT SmartWay. The highway is closed in both directions from Mile Marker zero to 20 in North Carolina. The initial partial collapse of Interstate 40 happened along the Pigeon River Gorge. Flooding from Tropical Storm Helene triggered a mudslide which caused part of the highway to collapse. Following the devastating storm, I-40 East was closed from Mile Marker 432 in Tennessee until Mile Marker 3 in North Carolina. I-40 West was closed starting at Mile Marker 3 in North Carolina through Mile Marker 435 in Tennessee. Much of that highway stretch has reopened since. I-40 is a major thoroughfare through the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The stretch of I-40 in North Carolina that was damaged by Helene supports about 7,610 trucks daily and a total average daily traffic of over 26,000 vehicles. The highway is 2,559 miles long. It passes through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina. Of that total, 455 miles of I-40 go through through Tennessee. Knoxville News Sentinel reporter Myron Thompson contributed to this report. This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: I-40 closure: When will I-40 reopen in Tennessee, North Carolina?
