96 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)
View submission: How does the nose differentiate between thousands of different scents?
For every different scent you can pick up, there is a dedicated small part of the brain (in the olfactory bulb) that sends nerves to the lining of the nose, which nerves have a unique receptor for that scent molecule. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfactory_receptor[1]. Humans have a few hundred of these, dogs have tens of thousands. As the sense of smell is processed in the brain, the brain can detect further things: combinations of multiple scents, or changes in the intensity.
1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfactory_receptor
Comment by Tf2ToxicSoldierMain at 15/03/2025 at 20:04 UTC
13 upvotes, 4 direct replies
That's cool! I was just wondering one other thing, how does our nose determine what is a 'sensitive' smell like if I just sniffed vanilla extract or something very spicy, why does it create a burning sensation in my nose, but 9/10 smells don't?
Same with how colognes, perfumes, and our favorite foods create a very very pleasant smell. It's just a bit curious how our brain decides what smells it likes and dislikes and why nice smells give that soft tingly feeling in our nose, while bad smells give that burning putrid feeling.
Comment by Endersgame88 at 16/03/2025 at 13:15 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I read this has been debunked and nerve receptors can be multipurpose/have a range of scents .