Smell

So going along with the topic of food (thanks Dayla) I thought maybe doing a quick post on smell. Our sense of smell is usually associated with food, which is what I'm going to look at.

So what is smell? Everything that smells (freshly popped popcorn, a big fry up, perfume) gives off light, volatile molecules that waft through the air to your nose. Olfactory receptor cells are neurons that send impulses to the olfacory bulb through the axon (base part of the neuron). Each olfactory receptor cell only has one type of receptor, which can detect a small selection of molecules.

It is the vibration of the odors' atoms at the quantum level that is detected by humans. Chemoreceptors in our nose pass on electrical impulses to the brain, which can recognise specific odors, or interpret the electric patterns which we understand as smell.

When our sense of sight is taken away, our sense of smell becomes much more central to our lives. Try blindfolding yourself, taking in every sound and smell that you can and concentrate carefully. Try not to place yourself too close to the bin though - you might get a nasty surprise! 

Alice