Top 10 Facts on What The Nose Knows

1. The sense of smell is the first of our senses to develop. Even before we are born, our sense of smell is fully formed and functioning.
2. Each human has his or her own distinct odour, like fingerprints.
3. The sense of smell peaks when we are in our late teens and then begins a gradual decline.
4. Women have a better sense of smell than men, possibly due to a more developed orbital prefrontal region of the brain.
5. Dogs have nearly 44 times more scent cells than humans. While men and women have five to six million odour-detecting cells, canines have 220 million.
6. You can smell feelings of fear and disgust through sweat, and then experience the same emotion.
7. Scent cells are renewed every 30 to 60 days, so every two to three months you get a ‘new nose’.
8. You can smell things better in the spring and summer, due to the additional moisture in the air. For the same reason, it is stronger after exercise, which also increases the moisture in the nasal passage.
9. When you are asleep, your sense of smell shuts down.
10. People who cannot smell have a condition called anosmia. This means much, if not all, of the flavour in food and drink is lost.