25. The world's leading researchers are studying our senses. From the connection between taste and smell to the idea of "scent (气味) training", there's so much more than we think to our sense of smell.
Your sense of smell is largely responsible for your ability to taste food
"Flavor (味道) is really an experience that joins what happens on your tongue with smell," says a professor at the University of York, UK. "When you put something in your mouth, the molecules (分子) go into your nose. Maybe your tongue can tell there's fat in that chocolate, and that's something the brain finds very satisfying, but the formal chocolate experience comes from all the molecules going into your nose."
Women out-perform men when both groups are asked to tell a certain number of scents
That holds true across all age groups. This is because women are better at noticing a smell and better at describing it with language. Research shows that when people were asked to memorize eight scents and were then given a scent test, the women were better able to tell whether or not a scent was one of the ones that had been memorized. Women were also better at recognizing the scents by name.
Your eating habits may change because of the loss of smell
"You think, 'I remember how this tasted in the past. I guess they don't have the same tasty tomatoes or meat any more," says a researcher. "But in fact, it's your sense of smell that may be working less. "Losing the sense of smell is likely age-related or caused by a cold.
The loss of smell may even change people's eating habits. Some people will lose interest in eating or don't want to eat with their friends. Others will start eating lots of junk food, spices, salt, to try to make eating more enjoyable.
Scent training might protect our sense of smell
The loss of smell is not the end of the world. Some research suggests that scent training might protect our sense of smell. By breathing in strong smells on purpose for several weeks, people become more sensitive(敏感的)to all scents and improve their ability to smell. Researchers found the MRI brain images of people undergoing scent training got thicker in the parts of the brain responsible for dealing with the role of scent, which means it's not just a nose that is trained, it's the whole brain.