All the most interesting about the sense of smell (25 photos). Interesting facts about smells

Today I want to talk and give interesting facts about

Smell and smells

Man and animals, along with other senses of the surrounding world, have this important function. One of the experimental polls: "Which sense organ would you give up in the first place, if the need arose?" The majority answered: "Smell"... Why: what - there are more bad smells than good ones? Or vision and hearing, for example, are more important for a person?
A part of the brain called the olfactory bulb is responsible for the sense of smell in humans and animals (see photo 1). So, in fish, for example, with a fantastic sense of smell, this bulb, compared to the brain itself, is simply huge. And with a person - the opposite.
According to a certain circle of scientists, in a person who is able to process olfactory information not only with the help of the bulb, but also with the brain - and only with him - this is why the brain developed in such a way that the pre-human (due to the prevailing circumstances) began to walk straight, his upper limbs turning into hands. F. Engels argued that it was hands and manual labor that made a man out of a monkey. But maybe, in reality, the human brain became human from the fact that he assumed an additional function - the function of smell? And people neglect this sense organ so much ... This is such ingratitude!

Whatever scientists have suggested and asserted, the world of smells is an interesting and fascinating world! Let's admire him with the "eyes" of the animal world. For him, the sense of smell and smells, as you now understand, are much more significant and important.

Here are some prime examples:
Male butterfly Astias selene smells female from 11 kilometers away !!!

Dogs have 230 million olfactory cells in their noses, while humans have only 10-11 million - twenty times less. However, a dog cannot find something that does not smell at all.

Animals cannot distinguish and react only one smell that a person needs. This happens, in part, because the olfactory cells completely change over the course of a month. Their special services have to constantly "train" on the desired type of smells. If dogs could only distinguish one odor, it would be possible to release, for example, odorous dollars, which would remove the problem of foreign exchange smuggling.

Now let's talk about favorite scents. What are your favorite scents? Most people love the smells of fresh bread, freshly cut grass and coffee the most. The smells of rolls and coffee not only whet the appetite, but also increase the desire to buy. Therefore, supermarkets often smell of coffee and fresh pastries.

Many animals also have favorite scents: dogs, for example, have the smell of anise, cats have valerian and mint, and lions love good perfumes. Camels are attracted by the smell of tobacco smoke: that's why there are cigarettes with the name "Camel".

People living "in the dungeons" of a noisy civilization do not feel almost 70% of the city's smells. But, an African aborigine living in the wild can catch the scent of a friend who walked along a forest path a few hours ago.

And, of course, about the perfume: the French databank contains more than 8000 names in its catalog. Modern perfumes can be made up of 300 different ingredients. Over 6,000 types of various raw materials are used to create perfumes.

Here are some interesting facts about smell and smell ...

Factrum tells interesting facts that are useful to know about the sense of smell.

  1. According to a study published in the journal Science in 2014, a person's nose can perceive at least 1 trillion distinct odors.
  2. Some of the most pleasant smells people consider the aroma of vanilla, some smells of citrus, cinnamon, cookies and ... crayons. The author of this study is Dolores Malaspina, professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University in New York.
  3. According to Professor Malaspina, the sense of smell is the most ancient sense. Even unicellular organisms have ways of perceiving the chemical composition of the environment.
  4. There are a number of anomalies in the sense of smell. Among them are anosmia (complete or partial loss of smell perception), dysosmia (impaired sense of smell, when instead of one smell another is perceived), hyperosmia (excessive perception of smell).
  5. A group of scientists from Tel Aviv University are developing a new way to identify a person - using the smell of his sweat. According to their theory, sweat is a person's chemical fingerprints that are unique to everyone.
  6. The sense of smell is responsible for 75–95% of the perception of taste. Without inhaling the smell of a product, we perceive its taste much worse and cannot distinguish one type of food from another only by its texture.
  7. Loss of smell may indicate the development of Alzheimer's disease. A decrease in the ability to perceive odors is associated with a loss of brain cell functionality.
  8. Perception of smell can be one of the ways to diagnose autism. According to some studies, children with autism do not distinguish between pleasant and unpleasant odors and inhale them in the same way, without trying to inhale a deeper "tasty" aroma or breathe shallowly if the smell is bad. During experiments, this "breath test" showed 81 percent accuracy in making a diagnosis in children aged 7 years.
  9. The nose determines the sound of the voice. What we hear when people speak or sing depends a lot on resonating structures in the throat and nose. The sound itself is produced by the vocal cords, but its richness is determined by how it is "processed" above the cords. The characteristic "nasal" voice in nasal congestion is due to the lack of nasal resonance.
  10. Rhinoplasty, or nose job, is the second most common cosmetic surgery. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, more than 250,000 nose reshaping surgeries were performed in the United States in 2010 (breast augmentation ranks first in terms of prevalence). However, This is one of the most complex plastic surgery procedures in terms of functionality. Indeed, sometimes we are talking about millimeters that separate a successful operation from an unsuccessful one.

Each person perceives smells individually, while the sense of smell is referred to the sphere of the unconscious. A person is able to distinguish more than 3,000 odors thanks to receptors that send signals to the brain and associate the perception of smell with memory. Interesting facts about the sense of smell will tell you about this and much more.

The nasal cavity contains about 200 million olfactory cells, which are equipped with odor detectors. The nerve endings of these detectors pick up the smell and transmit it in the form of electrical impulses to the brain.

Everyone knows the connection between taste and smell, when a person who does not smell due to illness does not feel the taste of food either. Scientists have recently discovered another connection - the connection between smell and pain. They found that people with an innate insensitivity to pain were odorless. This may be due to the fact that the same channel is responsible for the sense of smell and pain in the brain.

Smell is the only one of the five human senses that is directly related to the hippocampus of the brain and the amygdala. These parts of the brain are responsible for forming memories and referring emotions to certain events.

There are some substances that a person cannot sense through their sense of smell. So, the human nose is immune to the smell of natural gas, therefore, compounds are added to household natural gas that give it a distinctive smell. Another deadly odorless gas is carbon monoxide.

Among the most beloved smells of mankind are the smell of fresh bread, coffee and freshly cut grass. Enterprising marketers use the smell of baked goods and coffee in large stores as bait for shoppers, as these smells have been proven to make people want to buy and eat.
Inhabitants of modern cities become immune to 70% of urban odors. And the inhabitants of settlements far from civilization are able to catch in the wild the smell of a person who passed in a certain place several hours ago.
Scientists suggest that the smell of fear can be felt. For example, if one person in a crowd is overwhelmed with panic, but at the same time cannot convey their emotions, his smell will be transmitted to the entire group of people. This smell will be subtle, but will act on a subconscious level.
The ability for egocentric localization is the ability to point to the original direction of a scent even without turning the head. This ability also works with hearing and is innate.

Smell, it would seem, is a much less important sensation than sight, hearing or touch. However, it is precisely this - the most ancient feeling, without which we could not perceive either the taste of food, or learn about the danger in the world around us.

1. According to a study published in the journal Science in 2014, a person's nose can perceive at least 1 trillion distinct odors.

2. Some of the most pleasant smells people consider the aroma of vanilla, some smells of citrus, cinnamon, cookies and ... crayons. The author of this study is Dolores Malaspina, professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University in New York.

3. According to Professor Malaspina, the sense of smell is the most ancient sense. Even unicellular organisms have ways of perceiving the chemical composition of the environment.

4. There are a number of anomalies in the sense of smell. Among them are anosmia (complete or partial loss of smell perception), dysosmia (impaired sense of smell, when instead of one smell another is perceived), hyperosmia (excessive perception of smell).

5. A group of scientists from Tel Aviv University are developing a new way to identify a person - using the smell of his sweat. According to their theory, sweat is a person's chemical fingerprints, unique to everyone.

6. The sense of smell is responsible for 75-95% of the perception of taste. Without inhaling the smell of a product, we perceive its taste much worse and cannot distinguish one type of food from another only by its texture.

7. Loss of smell may indicate the development of Alzheimer's disease. A decrease in the ability to perceive odors is associated with a loss of brain cell functionality.

8. Perception of smell can be one of the ways to diagnose autism. According to some studies, autistic children do not distinguish between pleasant and unpleasant odors and inhale them in the same way, without trying to inhale a deeper “tasty” scent or breathe shallowly if the smell is bad. During experiments, this "breath test" showed 81 percent accuracy in making a diagnosis in children aged 7 years.

9. The nose determines the sound of the voice. What we hear when people speak or sing depends a lot on resonating structures in the throat and nose. The sound itself is produced by the vocal cords, but its richness is determined by how it is “processed” above the vocal cords. The characteristic “nasal” voice in nasal congestion is due to a lack of nasal resonance.

10 ... Rhinoplasty, or nose job, is the second most common cosmetic surgery. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, more than 250,000 nose reshaping surgeries were performed in the United States in 2010 (breast augmentation ranks first in terms of prevalence). At the same time, it is one of the most complex plastic surgery procedures in terms of functionality. Indeed, sometimes we are talking about millimeters that separate a successful operation from an unsuccessful one.

Nature has endowed man with five senses, and the sense of smell is an important element of our perception, which allows us to know the world. There are many smells around, and they are all so different. So, for example, if you stand over the copier for only half a minute, then you can forget about visiting the forest-fields after the rain for 81 years! Ozone emitted by copiers is almost a billion times more than "natural".

Almost any scent can be used as medicine or as a mini time machine. The reaction to the effect of smell develops instantly: I did not have time to blink, but already in the past. To do this, you just need to "tie" the scent to a pleasant memory. And when a person is happy, he is already practically healthy (in his body, the release of endorphins, neurotransmitters and antibodies increases, which greatly helps the healing process).

According to one of the legends, the wife of Zeus, Hera, seduced her husband with the help of a magic fragrant belt taken from Aphrodite. Modern aroma specialists believe that the composition of an aphrodisiac scent, against which the main Greek god could not resist, could well be as follows: ylang-ylang, nutmeg, pink vanilla, jasmine and cloves.

A city dweller living among a noisy civilization does not feel up to 70% of city smells. An African living in the wild can smell a friend who walked along a forest path a few hours ago.

In order that you cannot be calculated by the smell from your feet, it is enough to use the product ТМ Dry-dry with a cooling and refreshing effect.

Ants communicate using smells - their glands produce pheromones in different concentrations for different messages. When an ant dies, it is treated as if it were alive for several more days, until the smell of decomposition products interrupts the pheromones. If you lubricate a live ant with the substances that make up the smell of decomposition, then it will certainly be taken to the cemetery, and will be carried again, no matter how much it comes back from there.

For the screening of the 1960 film "The Smell of Mystery", a Smell-O-Vision system was installed in several American cinemas to accompany the events on the screen with smells. A tube was connected to each spectator place, and the smells were blown out of the tubes centrally throughout the hall, and the system worked without the participation of an operator at predetermined time intervals. However, the first screenings caused a lot of negative responses: some viewers complained about a strong hiss during the presentation of smells, others about the fact that the smells were several seconds late in relation to the action on the screen. These problems were later resolved, but rumors of poor equipment performance, coupled with negative reviews about the film itself, had already scattered, and Smell-O-Vision was never used again.

Most loved by people are the smells of fresh bread, freshly cut grass and coffee. The smells of rolls and coffee not only whet the appetite, but also increase the desire to buy. Therefore, large stores often smell of coffee and fresh pastries.

Phenomenal memory for smells is developed in absolutely all people and under any circumstances. For example: Your novel is over, and its participant seems to be forgotten forever. But if suddenly, quite by accident, you are touched, for example, by the smell of his cologne or eau de toilette, do not hesitate: memories will cover your head.

Daily use of the product ТМ Dry-dry against foot sweating, will help you leave behind extremely pleasant memories.

Most animals are guided only by smell, find food, choose a sexual partner. The male butterfly “Astias selene” can smell the female for 11 kilometers.

Even the worst mood will recede if you inhale the scent of lavender for a few minutes. This plant is a powerful natural antidepressant.

Japanese scientists believe that the smell of lemon reduces the number of errors when working at a computer by 54%. Be sure to drink lemon tea at your workplace.

Just like our distant ancestors, we choose partners, including by body odor. And, in turn, we can dislike a good person only because we dislike not so much himself as the smell of his body.

For example, increased sweating of the feet leads to shyness and indecision to take off your shoes once again in the presence of strangers. A remedy for external use will help to solve this problem. Dry Dry Foot Spray from the Swedish manufacturer LEXIMA AB. It not only eliminates unpleasant odors, but also has a cooling effect, which is especially important in the summer season.