Double smell of smell

2000/03/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Anatomia/Fisiologia

According to a study by a group of researchers at the University of Stamford in the United States, each nostril smells differently. It was formerly known that the air flow of a nostril is greater at all times than that of the other, and that the fossa works for a few hours.

This feature is due to inflammation in the nasal wall. The researchers wanted to know if the change in air flow affected the smell and, for this purpose, they smelled mixtures of two substances to several volunteers: first by a nostril and then by another. One of the components of the mixture quickly crosses the nasal walls and quickly reaches the olfactory receptors. The other needs more time.

The researchers found that one of the components of the mixture depending on the flow was more than the other, so the smell collected by a nostril and another was different. Each nostril, like our eyes and ears, transmits to the brain a different "image" of the medium, which increases the most accurate heating capacity.