Humans can distinguish at least one trillion odors, but we don't necessarily make full use of that capability. For wild animals, where smell is associated with survival, scents may provide life or ...

For the first time, researchers have determined how a human olfactory receptor captures an airborne scent molecule, the pivotal chemical event that triggers our sense of smell. Whether it evokes roses ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Humans, as an evolutionary group, are often said to be losing their sense of smell. "But our sense of smell is not simply ...

Scientists have finally cracked one of the biggest mysteries in the senses: how smell is organized. By mapping millions of neurons in mice, researchers discovered that smell receptors in the nose aren ...

"People tend to think humans rely very little on our sense of smell to survive, and that it has deteriorated as we evolved and diverged from other animals," says Lian Deng, the study's corresponding ...