Platial | Who and What's Nearby
Platial | Who and What's Nearby
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Storefront Tour, Location 4
As you are sniffing, it might be useful to think about how the olfactory system works. Your olfactory regions are moist, fatty and richly yellow. The deeper yellow your olfactory region, the more perceptive your sense of smell.
Inside your nose are about 1,000 odor receptors, of which only about 347 are functional. Each receptor contains thousands of sensory neurons, totaling about 5 million. Dogs, however, possess approximately 220 million olfactory neurons. Unlike neurons in the brain or other organs which are gone forever once destroyed, these neurons in your nose are replaced about once a month and protrude like coral branches. On the neurons are tiny cilia branches to which odorant molecules attach when they are captured in a sniff. These odorant molecules are thought to have different shapes that fit like a lock and key into spaces on the neurons. Musks are like discs and airy odors are often rod-shaped. When the cilia capture the odorants, the neurons send an electric signal to the brain’s olfactory bulb, which is just a few centimeters behind your nose. Although it is presently under intense research, it is theorized that a complex spatial mapping of the different triggered receptors permits the brain to identify and remember a scent. Like popcorn, with real or artificial butter. And about 10,000 other odors.
There is a unique gene that encodes each of the 1,000 odor receptors, making the olfactory system the largest known gene family in the human body. That says a lot about the complexity of odor. By comparison, just three receptors on the retina allow us to distinguish among several hundred color hues. It does help to shut off those three receptors in your retina when trying to smell things, so take time sniffing with your eyes closed.
Storefront Tour, Location 4
As you are sniffing, it might be useful to think about how the olfactory system works. Your olfactory regions are moist, fatty and richly yellow. The deeper yellow your olfactory region, the more perceptive your sense of smell.
Inside your nose are about 1,000 odor receptors, of which only about 347 are functional. Each receptor contains thousands of sensory neurons, totaling about 5 million. Dogs, however, possess approximately 220 million olfactory neurons. Unlike neurons in the brain or other organs which are gone forever once destroyed, these neurons in your nose are replaced about once a month and protrude like coral branches. On the neurons are tiny cilia branches to which odorant molecules attach when they are captured in a sniff. These odorant molecules are thought to have different shapes that fit like a lock and key into spaces on the neurons. Musks are like discs and airy odors are often rod-shaped. When the cilia capture the odorants, the neurons send an electric signal to the brain’s olfactory bulb, which is just a few centimeters behind your nose. Although it is presently under intense research, it is theorized that a complex spatial mapping of the different triggered receptors permits the brain to identify and remember a scent. Like popcorn, with real or artificial butter. And about 10,000 other odors.
There is a unique gene that encodes each of the 1,000 odor receptors, making the olfactory system the largest known gene family in the human body. That says a lot about the complexity of odor. By comparison, just three receptors on the retina allow us to distinguish among several hundred color hues. It does help to shut off those three receptors in your retina when trying to smell things, so take time sniffing with your eyes closed.
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