Human smell sense nothing to sniff at
HUMANS have a far better sense of smell than previously thought, but they fail to make full use of it because modern developments such as daily showers and refrigerators mask many odours, scientists say. It had previously been estimated that humans could smell 10 000 odours, but the real figure, researchers now say, is closer to one trillion.
The experts at Rockefeller University in New York believe our sense of smell is much closer to that of animals than we imagined, but we no longer pay attention because smells are often hidden, meaning that important sensory information is lost.
“Humans have not lost their sense of smell. We are just not aware of how good we are at smelling and are just not using this sense to our full potential,” said Leslie Vosshall, one of the authors of the research, which was published in the journal Science. “Our paper shows that humans have a dramatically better sense of smell than previously assumed.”
Our sense of smell evolved over millions of years and our ancestors would have used it to spot disease, avoid rotten meat and poisonous plants, and sniff out food.
However, as we assumed an upright posture, this lifted our noses far from the ground, where most smells originate, diluting scent molecules in the air.
Today, many smells that still give us hints about rot and poor hygiene are masked behind perfumes, air fresheners and deodorants. Researchers said this could explain why people believe smell is unimportant compared with hearing and vision.
Many studies have shown that pheromones emitted from the sweat glands play an important role in physical attraction. Dr Craig Roberts, a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Stirling, said: “We all use smell more than we realise, sometimes in ways we don’t think much about, such as when choosing partners.”—