Smelly Facts: A Collection of Little Facts

Do we take our sense of smell for granted? Do we lament the fact that it is nowhere near as sensitive as that of many other animals? It is still pretty remarkable. A few random facts today to remind us how special our sense of smell is.

· “We can smell smoke at concentrations well below that needed to trigger even the most sensitive of household smoke detectors.”
· “We can distinguish among roughly 10.000 different chemicals by their smell.” (Axel, 1995)
· “Blind people regularly identify other individuals by each person’s unique odor, and sighted people can do that too when they try.” Where does our special, identifiable odor come from? “In humans, specialized scent-producing glands (apocrine glands) are concentrated most highly in the axillary region (underarms) and also exist in high concentrations in the genital area, the alveolar area (around the nipples), the navel area, on the top of the head, and on the forehead and cheeks.” (Stoddart, 1990)
· “Much, if not most of what we call the flavor of foods is actually smell, not taste.”
· “As we get older, our sense of smell declines. By age 65, about 25 percent of people have serious olfactory impairment, and by age 80 the number is 75 percent." (Doty et al., 1984)


Note: All of the above facts are direct quotes from Peter Gray’s Psychology, 4th Edition, Worth Publishers

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