Can't believe it's four years since my
feature about how the human sense of smell is underappreciated in modern society, which was mainly based on Asifa Majid's work on hunter-gatherer groups in South Asia who are much better at defining smells in words than we are. So when a major paper came out doubling the number of assignments of olfactory receptors to specific odours, I was glad for the opportunity to revisit the human sense of smell and check up how Asifa's work is progressing.
The new "smelly" feature is out now:
Odour space - the final frontier
Current Biology Volume 29, issue 14, pages R663-R665, July 22, 2019
FREE access to full text and PDF download
The smell of lavender is recognised as pleasant and soothing. Perception of
the relevant compound linalool is variable between individuals, however. (Photo: © Tiomax80/
Flickr (CC BY 2.0).)
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