This is a closeup of an adult Antlion. Insects use their eyes for seeing. What do they use their antennae for?

The antennae of an insect are truly multitask structures. They give the insect its sense of smell and taste, and in many insects they also detect heat, sound vibrations, detect sources of water, and help with the sense of touch. The antennae also contain the Johnston's organ, which helps the insect know when it is right side up, detects wind movement, and can detect the frequency of a potential mate's wingbeats.

This activity is from my Experiment of the Week Newsletter. It is free, and will let you know about new resources on this site.

This time, we are going to take a look at a classic science experiment that has been used for a LONG time. In fact, it was already an old classic when I was a kid, and that was quite a while ago.

The experiment involves the link between our senses of taste and smell. Often it is done with apples and potatoes, but there is enough textural difference that you can often tell which is which. I have found that the results are much stronger with flavored candy. To try this, you will need:

• candy that has the same shape and texture, but comes in different flavors.

OK, lets begin with the standard experiment. Be sure that your pieces of candy will all feel the same in your mouth, and that they have distinctive flavors. If you don't see the candy, the taste should be your only clue to what flavor it is.

If you have a friend to help, then close your eyes, hold your nose, and have her give you one of the pieces of candy. Keeping eyes and nose tightly closed, put the candy in your mouth. You will taste a sweet taste, and probably some sour too, but you may be surprised that you can't tell if the candy is cherry, lime, orange, or some other flavor.

Then move your hand away from your nose, so you can breath normally. Yum! You get a sudden burst of flavor, telling you exactly what kind of candy it is. The reason for this is that your tongue has flavor receptors for basic flavors, such as sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami (the savory taste of meat.) Most of the other flavors that you taste are tied in with your sense of smell. If you can't smell them, then you don't taste them. That is why food tastes so bland when you have a cold.

But wait a minute! Your parents probably taught you to chew with your mouth closed. How can the smell get out of your mouth to go up your nose, so you can smell it? And your mouth stayed closed when you released your nose, but you still got that sudden burst of flavor. What is really happening?

Well, the smell of the food does have to reach your nose for you to taste all of those subtle flavors, but there is another path that those smells can take. Instead of inhaling those smells through your nose, you are exhaling them. As you breath out through your nose, your breath carries the smells from your mouth into your nose. You were not holding your nose to prevent you from inhaling the smells. Instead, you were blocking the way, so you could not exhale the smells through your nose.

Now that you are tasting the flavor, hold your nose again. After a second or two, the flavor disappears again.

So what if you just held your breath instead of holding your nose? Try that.

No, really. Try it and see for your self.

What did you find? Even holding your breath, you probably still tasted some of the flavor. Why? Think about what happens when you chew or swallow. Your mouth changes shape, your throat moves, your tongue moves around. All of that movement causes the air in your throat to move, forcing some of it up into your nose. It carries some of the smell to your nose even if you don't exhale. By blocking your nose, you pressurize it, preventing the air from your mouth from moving up.

OK, take it one more step. Hold your nose until the flavor goes away. Then release your nose, and inhale. While you are inhaling, keep your mouth closed. You probably won't taste the flavor. Then exhale. Ahh, there is the flavor again. The main path that the smells take to let you taste your food is up through the back of your throat. It is not inhaling that brings you the flavor. Exhaling is what gives you those wonderful flavors.

How do you feel? No, I don't mean are you happy or sad? Touch the back of your hand. Did you feel it? How? When you touched your hand, you pressed on nerves in your skin. These nerves reacted and sent a message to your brain, telling you that something touched your hand. Some parts of your skin have more nerves than others. This week, we are going to examine how these nerves are arranged. You will need:

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I thought this week we would do something on judging distances. If you look at the faces of different animals, you will find that their eyes are placed differently. Some have both eyes in the front of their face, like ours. Others have their eyes on the sides of their heads. Why? We can do an experiment to learn at least one reason for this.

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Through Rose Colored Glasses

What is it really like to look at the world through rose colored glasses? Not nearly as strange as when you finally take them off!

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The Smell of Money

A magic trick that can teach about observation and the senses.

This week's experiment comes from a question that was sent to me by Hashi, one of the members of the Experiment of the Week list. She noticed that smells were stronger while taking a shower and asked why. To investigate, you will need:

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Today was a wonderful day! We went to the Everglades and saw lots of wildlife. Part of the fun of traveling is getting to play tourist, and National Parks are some of our favorite tourist stops.

It was dark by the time we left the Everglades and on the way out, we were watching very carefully in hopes of spotting a Florida panther. We did not see one, but it did give me the idea for which experiment to do this week. Have you ever seen the glow of an animal's eyes reflecting the headlights on a car or the flashlight you are holding? If not, you can try it. You will need:

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For this week's experiment, we are going to watch our fingers wiggle. Doesn't that sound like fun? OK, I admit that I am easily amused, but there is more to this experiment than just moving your finger. We are going to investigate part of how a television works at the same time.

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This experiment is one that I have noticed while doing my electricity shows. I use a balloon in the show to demonstrate positive and negative static charges. While holding this balloon, I noticed that I could feel a variety of sounds.

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The experiment this week comes from spending too much time in hotel rooms as I travel. As I was packing for the trip home, I found it very useful for adjusting the television when I was not directly in front of it.

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This project has science fair potential.

If you have ever played with a tuning fork, you know that they are interesting and fun, but they can also be expensive. For this week's experiment, we will use a regular fork from your kitchen to produce a beautiful tone. For this experiment, you will need:

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This project has science fair potential.

See the video version here

Any time you hear a sound, it is because something is vibrating. Place your fingers against your throat and hum. You will feel your throat vibrate. We usually hear sounds from vibrations that travel through the air, but solids can be much better at carrying vibrations.

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Have you ever noticed that warm food tastes different from cold food? If you have ever tasted cold pizza or melted ice cream, you know what I mean. This experiment will show you how temperature can effect taste.

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