The Amazing Nose Knows: Why We Don’t Smell Ourselves

The Mystery of Our Missing Smell

Have you ever played hide-and-seek and found your friend’s hiding spot just by smelling the chips they were munching on? Our noses or Olfactory senses are amazing detectives, but there’s one case they can’t easily crack: our own smell. It’s like your nose plays favorites, picking up your friend’s stinky shoes but ignoring your own after a soccer game. Why is that?

More Than Meets the Nose

You might assume that canines and swine dominate in the olfactory department, but humans are surprisingly proficient as well! Picture your nose as an elaborate piano boasting 400 unique keys, each corresponding to a different smell receptor. Indeed, our olfactory system can detect more than a trillion different aromas, akin to playing a global repertoire on that piano.

The Magic Trick of “Odor Fatigue”

Why can’t we smell ourselves then? Meet the magician called “Odor Fatigue.” Hiroaki Matsunami, a super-smart scientist, says our noses get used to the smells they meet every day, like your mom’s perfume or the smell of your house. It’s like eating your favorite pizza every day; after a while, you might not even taste the cheese or pepperoni. But guess what? If you take a pizza break, your taste buds wake up, and the same happens with your nose when it sniffs a new smell.

Special Scent Situations

Rachel Herz, another awesome scientist, says our nose wakes up to our own smell when something changes. Think of your nose like a sleepover buddy. It’s chill and doesn’t pay much attention, but if you start playing loud music or eat a lot of garlic, it’s going to wake up! So, your nose notices you especially when you’re eating strong foods or feeling nervous.

Our Smell Tells Stories, Even Love Stories!

Imagine you’re choosing a team for a soccer match. You’d want players who are different yet strong in their own ways, right? That’s how our noses help us pick friends and even life partners. Women, when sniffing T-shirts of men, prefer the scent of those who are different from them, at least in a certain set of genes. It’s like nature’s way of creating a dream team!

Smelling Our Way to the Future

Smell is like the unsung hero of our senses. We focus so much on what we see, that we forget how important smell is. But with problems like the loss of smell due to COVID-19, people are starting to realize how this hero plays a big role in our lives.

So, the next time you can’t smell your own stinky socks, remember that your nose isn’t broken. It’s just on a little smell vacation, and it’ll be back to its sniffing best soon!

DIY Activity: True or False Quiz

1. We can’t smell ourselves at all.
2. Humans have 200 smell receptors.
3. Our noses become tired of the same smell over time.

Scroll down for answers.

Jumble Words Puzzle: Unscramble these words related to smell.

1. OONRGT
2. CHSMEI
3. SREOEERCTP
4. LOMOETSIN
5. UATATFEIG

Answers:

True or False Quiz:

1. False
2. False (We have 400!)
3. True

Jumble Words Puzzle:

1. GORONT (Strong)
2. CHEMIST
3. RECEPTORS
4. EMOTIONS
5. FATIGUE

Hope you had fun sniffing out the truth about our noses!

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