The vials of
smells that volunteers sniffed in the new study were only a tiny
sampling of all the possible smells that humans can distinguish.
7 comments:
Angela
said...
This was a pretty good article. I don't know how good the research or the purpose was, though. I agree with Gottfried that this study doesn't have to mean that we can smell 1 trillion scents. Compared to two other smells, it may be easy to smell the odd one out. Being able to tell the difference doesn't mean we can tell and distinguish what each scent is, it just means we can smell the difference. However, this is a fairer way of going about testing. After all, some people may not have bad noses, but just have not smelled that scent previouslyI also don't agree about the human noses, though. I mean, nobody ever said that we couldn't smell lots of different scents. It's just that animals can pick up scents from much farther and think: predator or prey? Besides that, though, I think that it is cool that we can smell so many scents. One trillion scents is really amazing. Overall, this was a pretty cool study. I think that we can't say that we are breaking this theory "once and for all," but it is still interesting to know.
I thought this was a good article. However, I can see a few faults in it. First of all, someone could have had a cold, or allergies, or something and not have been able to smell as well. Also, I feel like if two smells were the same, and one different, it would be pretty easy to differentiate. However, I found it interesting that one smell can be made of many different types of molecules. Also, I think it's amazing that we are able to detect these smells, but not always notice them. For example, if I'm smelling a specific object, there are other smells around me that I am detecting, but I never really notice them. Another thing that I found odd was that children were not included in the study. Of course it might not be good to included them in the same study as adults, but I think it would still be interesting to know how many smells we can smell and how that compares to adults. When I looked this up, I cam up with some (old) results for this test. Apparently, young children have very sensitive senses of smell, but only for particular smells. Most children at that time did not have a wider variety until teenage years. Though this was interesting, the test itself might not have been as good as this one was, which is why I think they should test it again. Although, I don't really see how we would use this in a real situation, I still think it's great to know the extent of our powers.
This was an interesting and education article. I liked how they explained the varied results on different people. It is really interesting that some people can small 80 billion scents and others can smell 100 trillion! I wonder if the scientists would experiment with different ages of people, like people younger than 20 or people older than 40, if they would get different results. I thought about this because they only tested ages 20-40. I think the younger people will be able to smell less smells because their brains aren't that developed, and the older people will also smell less because their brains are older. If I could rate this article, I would rate it a 8 out of 10 because it was interesting and informative, but their could have been more details and pictures.
I think that it is amazing that the human nose and brain can smell approximately 1,000,000,000,000 odors! That seems impossible, but when the scientists researching this crunched the numbers for the 128 odorants an average person could differentiate, they arrived at this mind-boggling amount, 1 trillion smells! I think that it would be interesting if in the future, new scented products would be developed based on these findings.
This article was remarkably informative and interesting. Our sense of smell is so critical to our every day lives. Along with the astonishing facts written in the article, I also couldn’t believe how inaccurate the previous tests done on humans’ senses of smell were. Though the studies were done quite a while ago, it still astonishes me how different the previous results were from today’s tests. After reading this article, I formulated a few questions. First, I was wondering whether age affects how well you can smell. Does your sense of smell decrease, as you get older? If so, at what age does the sense of smell diminish? Second, I am curious about how humans’ sense of smell compares to that of animals. I know that certain animals have super keen senses of smell. I would like to know why those animals have such amazing smell, and a few examples of what they are capable of sniffing out.
Earlier, I mentioned that I had a few questions and topics that I wanted to research. Now that I have done so, I would like to post my findings. First, I did find that humans’ senses of smell do, in fact, decrease with age. In addition to not being able to smell odors as well, older humans also have a harder time distinguishing between two different smells. Research has concluded that more than 75% of adults over eighty years old have “major olfactory impairments.” It also been noted that, when humans reach over seventy years old is when their sense of smell grows weaker. There are many different views on why a human’s sense of smell worsens, as they grow older. One such theory has to do with a decrease of sensory cells in the olfactory mucosa. Along with that, a human’s central “nervous system cognitive processing functions” normally deteriorate some as we age. In addition, even if there is not sickness, olfactory receptor neurons die in our body at a specific rate. Because humans are usually able to restore those cells, but as we age, our ability to restore cells worsens. Because of that, there is a “reduction in the surface area of olfactory epithelium,” and a decreased number of olfactory receptor neurons, which is why older people face smelling difficulties. In addition, some diseases affect humans’ senses of smell, such as non-otolarnygological cancers and the Alzheimer’s disease. Though we don’t always think about it, our sense of smell contributes to our life in so many different ways, and we should be appreciative of it. As for my second topic of interest, I did find out that there are many animals that have exceptional senses of smell, but perhaps two of the most extraordinary are dogs and bears. Though bears have seven times better smell than bloodhounds, humans actually use bloodhounds to help us, so I decided to learn more about them. The exceptional sense of smell bloodhounds have is thought to be mostly because of very sensitive scent membranes. Scientists believe that bloodhounds’ noses have about 230 million olfactory cells, which is forty times the amount humans have. In addition, a dog’s olfactory center can be as big as a handkerchief, where as a human’s olfactory center is about as large as a stamp for postage. After sniffing an item, air goes through its naval cavity and the odor goes into the mucus to the bloodhound’s scent receptors. Chemical signals are then transmitted to the olfactory bulb. The olfactory bulb is that part of the dog’s brain that is in charge of analyzing the scents the dog smells. Police often use bloodhounds to help them. After analyzing, the bloodhound creates a detailed image in their brain that helps it track whatever it is looking for. When on a track, other scents and smells do not distract bloodhounds; as they are very focused. This type of dog has been heard to continue with a trail more than 130 miles. The build of a bloodhound also contributes to its ability to track. The creased skin surrounding the dog’s face and lengthy ear helps keep scent particle close to the nose. Bloodhounds also have strong shoulder and back muscles, and a long neck that allow it to be close to the ground and observe a trail closely. One of the most famous and helpful bloodhounds in history was named Nick Carter. Because of him, authorities were able to convict over 600 criminals. Humans have really benefited from these determined and wonderful animals. I also researched a little about the human nose. When a human breaths in air, it travels over specialized cells that belong to the olfactory system, and this transmits signals to the brain that then try to recognize the smell. There are also little hairs in the nose that filter out foreign particles. As the air goes through the nasal passages, it is filtered, heated, and then “humidified” before reaching the lungs. This breathing process helps humans avoid germs and stay healthy. Whether it is an animal nose or a human nose, the sense of smell is wonderful, and helps us take in the world in wonderful ways.
I never knew a normal human being could smell so many scents! Like Christina, while I was reading the article I was a bit suspicious about how they did the test. When I get sick or start having allergy symptoms, I can't smell as well as usual. Also like she had mentioned, I already knew that at different ages your senses can be stronger or duller. It also varies by the person and some people are affected in which order they smell the mixtures, which consequently could result in accurate information. It also depends on whether the person you are testing has already smelled the odor before or not, but it could also help to make the result be more based on normal human beings. Furthermore, I have recently heard that we can see a few million colors, and half a million different tones of these colors. That means that our noses are in a way better at smelling odors than an eye is at distinguishing colors. I've also wondered if any of the trillion odors were synthetic or artificial, because that could possibly change the results. Overall, I did like the idea of pursuing a more recent account on how many scents a human can smell.
7 comments:
This was a pretty good article. I don't know how good the research or the purpose was, though. I agree with Gottfried that this study doesn't have to mean that we can smell 1 trillion scents. Compared to two other smells, it may be easy to smell the odd one out. Being able to tell the difference doesn't mean we can tell and distinguish what each scent is, it just means we can smell the difference. However, this is a fairer way of going about testing. After all, some people may not have bad noses, but just have not smelled that scent previouslyI also don't agree about the human noses, though. I mean, nobody ever said that we couldn't smell lots of different scents. It's just that animals can pick up scents from much farther and think: predator or prey? Besides that, though, I think that it is cool that we can smell so many scents. One trillion scents is really amazing. Overall, this was a pretty cool study. I think that we can't say that we are breaking this theory "once and for all," but it is still interesting to know.
I thought this was a good article. However, I can see a few faults in it. First of all, someone could have had a cold, or allergies, or something and not have been able to smell as well. Also, I feel like if two smells were the same, and one different, it would be pretty easy to differentiate. However, I found it interesting that one smell can be made of many different types of molecules. Also, I think it's amazing that we are able to detect these smells, but not always notice them. For example, if I'm smelling a specific object, there are other smells around me that I am detecting, but I never really notice them. Another thing that I found odd was that children were not included in the study. Of course it might not be good to included them in the same study as adults, but I think it would still be interesting to know how many smells we can smell and how that compares to adults. When I looked this up, I cam up with some (old) results for this test. Apparently, young children have very sensitive senses of smell, but only for particular smells. Most children at that time did not have a wider variety until teenage years. Though this was interesting, the test itself might not have been as good as this one was, which is why I think they should test it again. Although, I don't really see how we would use this in a real situation, I still think it's great to know the extent of our powers.
This was an interesting and education article. I liked how they explained the varied results on different people. It is really interesting that some people can small 80 billion scents and others can smell 100 trillion!
I wonder if the scientists would experiment with different ages of people, like people younger than 20 or people older than 40, if they would get different results. I thought about this because they only tested ages 20-40. I think the younger people will be able to smell less smells because their brains aren't that developed, and the older people will also smell less because their brains are older.
If I could rate this article, I would rate it a 8 out of 10 because it was interesting and informative, but their could have been more details and pictures.
I think that it is amazing that the human nose and brain can smell approximately 1,000,000,000,000 odors! That seems impossible, but when the scientists researching this crunched the numbers for the 128 odorants an average person could differentiate, they arrived at this mind-boggling amount, 1 trillion smells! I think that it would be interesting if in the future, new scented products would be developed based on these findings.
This article was remarkably informative and interesting. Our sense of smell is so critical to our every day lives. Along with the astonishing facts written in the article, I also couldn’t believe how inaccurate the previous tests done on humans’ senses of smell were. Though the studies were done quite a while ago, it still astonishes me how different the previous results were from today’s tests. After reading this article, I formulated a few questions. First, I was wondering whether age affects how well you can smell. Does your sense of smell decrease, as you get older? If so, at what age does the sense of smell diminish? Second, I am curious about how humans’ sense of smell compares to that of animals. I know that certain animals have super keen senses of smell. I would like to know why those animals have such amazing smell, and a few examples of what they are capable of sniffing out.
Earlier, I mentioned that I had a few questions and topics that I wanted to research. Now that I have done so, I would like to post my findings. First, I did find that humans’ senses of smell do, in fact, decrease with age. In addition to not being able to smell odors as well, older humans also have a harder time distinguishing between two different smells. Research has concluded that more than 75% of adults over eighty years old have “major olfactory impairments.” It also been noted that, when humans reach over seventy years old is when their sense of smell grows weaker. There are many different views on why a human’s sense of smell worsens, as they grow older. One such theory has to do with a decrease of sensory cells in the olfactory mucosa. Along with that, a human’s central “nervous system cognitive processing functions” normally deteriorate some as we age. In addition, even if there is not sickness, olfactory receptor neurons die in our body at a specific rate. Because humans are usually able to restore those cells, but as we age, our ability to restore cells worsens. Because of that, there is a “reduction in the surface area of olfactory epithelium,” and a decreased number of olfactory receptor neurons, which is why older people face smelling difficulties. In addition, some diseases affect humans’ senses of smell, such as non-otolarnygological cancers and the Alzheimer’s disease. Though we don’t always think about it, our sense of smell contributes to our life in so many different ways, and we should be appreciative of it.
As for my second topic of interest, I did find out that there are many animals that have exceptional senses of smell, but perhaps two of the most extraordinary are dogs and bears. Though bears have seven times better smell than bloodhounds, humans actually use bloodhounds to help us, so I decided to learn more about them. The exceptional sense of smell bloodhounds have is thought to be mostly because of very sensitive scent membranes. Scientists believe that bloodhounds’ noses have about 230 million olfactory cells, which is forty times the amount humans have. In addition, a dog’s olfactory center can be as big as a handkerchief, where as a human’s olfactory center is about as large as a stamp for postage. After sniffing an item, air goes through its naval cavity and the odor goes into the mucus to the bloodhound’s scent receptors. Chemical signals are then transmitted to the olfactory bulb. The olfactory bulb is that part of the dog’s brain that is in charge of analyzing the scents the dog smells. Police often use bloodhounds to help them. After analyzing, the bloodhound creates a detailed image in their brain that helps it track whatever it is looking for. When on a track, other scents and smells do not distract bloodhounds; as they are very focused. This type of dog has been heard to continue with a trail more than 130 miles. The build of a bloodhound also contributes to its ability to track. The creased skin surrounding the dog’s face and lengthy ear helps keep scent particle close to the nose. Bloodhounds also have strong shoulder and back muscles, and a long neck that allow it to be close to the ground and observe a trail closely. One of the most famous and helpful bloodhounds in history was named Nick Carter. Because of him, authorities were able to convict over 600 criminals. Humans have really benefited from these determined and wonderful animals.
I also researched a little about the human nose. When a human breaths in air, it travels over specialized cells that belong to the olfactory system, and this transmits signals to the brain that then try to recognize the smell. There are also little hairs in the nose that filter out foreign particles. As the air goes through the nasal passages, it is filtered, heated, and then “humidified” before reaching the lungs. This breathing process helps humans avoid germs and stay healthy.
Whether it is an animal nose or a human nose, the sense of smell is wonderful, and helps us take in the world in wonderful ways.
I never knew a normal human being could smell so many scents! Like Christina, while I was reading the article I was a bit suspicious about how they did the test. When I get sick or start having allergy symptoms, I can't smell as well as usual. Also like she had mentioned, I already knew that at different ages your senses can be stronger or duller. It also varies by the person and some people are affected in which order they smell the mixtures, which consequently could result in accurate information. It also depends on whether the person you are testing has already smelled the odor before or not, but it could also help to make the result be more based on normal human beings. Furthermore, I have recently heard that we can see a few million colors, and half a million different tones of these colors. That means that our noses are in a way better at smelling odors than an eye is at distinguishing colors. I've also wondered if any of the trillion odors were synthetic or artificial, because that could possibly change the results. Overall, I did like the idea of pursuing a more recent account on how many scents a human can smell.
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