How much of this do you believe? Do you believe that:Humans can detect very small concentrations of certain chemicals, experts said. One example is androstenedione, a compound present in human sweat. If you put a drop of it in an Olympic-size swimming pool, a human being is able to tell the difference between the pool with the drop and the pool without it.
Researchers suggest that humans may use their nostrils in a way similar to how they use their ears to locate a sound. If you drop a coin on the floor, you know where to look. The brain converts auditory information into spatial information. The brain does a very fast computation to tell you where things are. Similarly, the human brain takes advantage of different sensory input from the right and left nostril to locate the smell.
Traditionally, women spend more time in the kitchen, and studies have shown that they are generally better smellers than men. Women are not necessarily born with a better olfactory sense, it's that they pay more attention to smells because of cooking and putting on perfume.
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Interesting.
ReplyDeleteI've often thought that the information which goes into making even fairly simple analysis is more complex than we generally imagine. How we figure out where a particular smell is coming from isn't something most of us give much thought to normally.
Yes, I believe it. Isn't that supposed to be why we are attracted to some people sexually and not others? - we "smell" that their chemicals are right for us or something? I have a friend who, following a mini-stroke, has lost her sense of smell and, as she is a cook, that's a dreadful thing. She has all sorts of problems which I never thought about before, not least always worrying about not being able to "smell" when there is danger for her children, as in a house fire starting.
ReplyDeletePerhaps not the most beautiful part of the anatomy but a vital one. I saw a study on the interrelation between the nose, tongue and palate. Interesting.
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