Our Mind-Boggling Sense of Smell - Issue 91: The Amazing Brain - Nautilus

Our sense of smell works in wondrous ways since the chemical composition of our surrounding change instantly and constantly. Our noses pick up volatile airborne compounds that interact with our olfactory receptors.

The information that we get from our surroundings pass through our noses and then to the core cortex in the brain. We, humans have about 400 types of olfactory receptors which is used to identify many different types of chemicals that have varying odor quality.

• It is different from other sensory cortices in a way that it has a multidimensional stimulus.
• Some things can smell different not just between different people but also for the same person.
• Can measure an array of an uncertain variety of chemicals that can trace changes that detects pleasure, pain, or danger.
• It does not require a map mirroring because its chemical stimulus is constantly changing. It relies on the brain to recognize the pattern or memory associated with the smell.