Olfactory and all its wonders!

For those of you that do not know, olfactory basically means 'the sense of smell.' Some people have very acute olfactory senses while some people do not.
In reality a lot of scientist believe this is a sense that is starting to fade. It's just not as important to have a very keen sense of smell anymore. We've developed past that and no longer need to use our honkers to the extent that we used to. However for now, we have a wonderful new world of exploration for our olfactory senses!

 There are so many great things about the olfactory senses but in reality we really don't appreciate them as we should!
For instance, everyone knows how the nose smells things, it identifies smells that we like and smells we don't like. However did you know that the olfactory receptors (the part that is responsible for identifying the smells) takes this info up to the brain and then these smells affect how we think?

Ylang ylang

I'm sure you actually do know this, even if you've never thought about it. Everyone has had a smell that has overwhelmed them and gave them a headache, and everyone has their own personal smells that remind them of old memories. (Me personally if I want to take a stroll down memory lane I'll spray a little bit of neroli on my pillow, or eat some raspberries. If my childhood was a smell that's what they would be.)
These smells affect us psychologically, a lot of the time that's how an aromatherapist works. They work with smells and how they affect the brain. For example there are a few smells that are supposed to affect the sex drive. Now we've all heard that oysters are supposed to be an aphrodisiac, I don't know if this is true. If it is, it's not for me, to me they're like big slimy boogers to gulp down, but anyway aromatherapy has smells that work as aphrodisiacs as well. A great example of this is ylang ylang, a flower that blooms on a tree which originates in the Philippines. It's a wonderful flower that is supposed to evoke euphoria and sexual desire to those that smell it. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, if you are allergic, or just plain don't like the smell of ylang ylang (like myself) it's not going to apply to you. Though there are other aromas that are said to do the same such as Jasmine (my favorite!), patchouli, and ginger. There are others but those are the only ones I'll put down here.

The sense of smell is very closely linked with memory in the brain, and with your sense of taste. If we didn't have a sense of smell we wouldn't be able to taste so much food in this world! True it would probably make eating vegetables easier but what a loss! Without the sense of smell we wouldn't be able to taste or even remember like we used to. Just think, Christmas has just passed (by the way hope all had a very Merry Christmas!) and many of you had a real Christmas tree in your living room, just think how sad it would be to not be able to smell that delicious pine smell that comes with each new Christmas tree, and for those of you that didn't have a real one, or any at all for that matter just think about all the delicious smells that come from the Christmas time.

There's cookies, gingerbread especially, peppermint from all those tasty candy canes. Some will make pumpkin pies, or apple pies, the smell of a cooked-honey-glazed ham on Christmas night. All those wonderful smells would be lost, and therefore all the wonderful feelings and memories would be gone as well. I would go even far enough to say without the sense of smell I think a lot of the Christmas spirit (the little left that survives the outrageous commercialism, and greedy Christmas shoppers) would simply disappear without those olfactory receptors to remind us of our Christmas cheer.

 Without our olfactory receptors we also wouldn't be able to detect other potential mates, at least not as well. There was an experiment performed at a college where women were asked to smell pre-worn shirts of males. They didn't see the males, they just smelled the shirts that were worn by them and each of them were asked to rate the shirt on how attractive the smell was to them. Each woman did, and after some looking into it the scientist discovered that each woman picked out a male that had the most different genes than they did. Diversifying genes is what creates the most healthy offspring. That's why back in history when royal families only married each other and kept there genes all in the family insanity and other deformities started to develop because we have to keep diversifying our genes to keep our species healthy. You also see these problems in dog breeding, when there is a lot of inter breeding the breed starts to become weak and more susceptible to health issues. I'm veering off topic a little bit but it gets the point across that smell is important.
Now would we be able to pick out different gene'd mates without our sense of smell? Maybe, I'm sure our bodies would adapt to fix the problem so we could identify them by some other means, but really what's greater than smelling the scent of someone you love? Sure you have their awful morning breath to deal with, their stinky flatulence but come on! Isn't smelling your loved ones after time apart the the best thing ever? I think so, but I'm a military spouse so there's more times for me to appreciate my husbands smell when he's been gone lol.
Besides without smell we wouldn't have aromatherapy, smelly candles, incense, flowers would be almost pointless except that they look nice. We wouldn't have fine dining, except on salt cubes (salt is one of the few things your tongue tastes on its own) or many other things. So come on every one! Appreciate that schnoz you've got on your face! It does a lot for you, and without it I wouldn't be here typing to you getting my aromatherapy degree and preparing my own perfume business. (Okay now you might not be grateful of your sense of smell but you should be!)
Oh yeah and I added this handy video of 'The Magic School Bus,' this episode is all about smells and delves a little bit more into the science of it, but in a fun way!
Oh and for all you 'serious' people that have no time for cartoons I've included a couple sites about the olfactory system and how it affects the brain. It's very interesting and anyone thinking of going into a smelling field should definitely check it out!
Oh and I encourage you to take your olfactory senses on a pleasure tour! Take them to places with wonderful smells. Hey new years eve is coming up, why not remember all the wonderful smells you've experienced this year? Any great movies where you had warm delicious popcorn? How about that time you tried baking a seven layered chocolate cake and the warm sweetness of is filled your senses with happiness... that is until it burnt! lol or how about when you got a brand new puppy this year and the sweet smell of their puppy breath as they licked your nose sent you into waves of joy! Remember these moments, remember them with your nose!
Also I added another Facebook page at the end, the page is for 'The institue for Art and Olfaction,' they are an organization that is currently working on a project called: 'Trip to Japan in sixteen minutes' Basically what they do is take you through 'Japan' using only music, slight visual affects and all your olfactory senses. It takes place in Los Angeles (sucks cause I'm not going to be there!). Check them out!
Don't forget to 'like' me on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/artandolfaction
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Quite-Contrarium/478334692182568
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfactory_receptor_neuron
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfactory_receptor