Arvin Ash

How does smell work? The Weird Quantum Connection (2019x23)

Udgivelsesdato: Maj 09, 2019

How Does our Olfactory system work? How do we Smell? It turns out that quantum mechanics plays a big role. What you may not realize is that inside your nose rests a very sensitive quantum device that uses complex physics to give you the ability to distinguish, according to the latest estimates, 1 trillion different smells. In order for you to smell anything, molecules from that thing have to make it to your nose. Everything you smell is volatile is some way, meaning it is giving off molecules that float into the air and land inside your nose. But how do these molecules trigger the sense of smell? At the top of your nasal passages behind your nose, there is a patch of special neurons about the size of a postage stamp called the olfactory epithelium. They have hair-like projections called cilia that increase their surface area. Any molecule from anything with a smell binds to special smell receptors on these cilia and triggers the neuron causing a signal to your brain. This signal ends up in a primitive part of the brain called the limbic system which is associated with emotions and memory – so that is why smells can trigger strong memories and emotional reactions. These neurons are unique they come directly from your brain, and are out in the open where they can come into contact with the air. So this is the only place on your body where your central nervous system is directly exposed to the environment. Now the questions is how do the neurons get triggered? The standard explanation going back to the 1950’s had been that the receptors at the ends of these olfactory neurons can only accept particular shapes of molecules. There are 400 such smell receptors. And the exact type of smell is determined by how the molecules from the smelly compounds fit in the set of receptors of the receiving olfactory neurons. By triggering a particular combination of the 400 smell receptors, the brain interprets a particular kind of smell. It’s like a lock and key