This chapter was pretty straight-forward. I learned that we can smell things because the molecules in the air go into our nose and attach to the mucous membrane. Then the receptors on the membrane take the molecules and transfer it to our brain, and then our brain tells us "sewer smells bad" or "dinner smells good". Each receptor is responsible for a specific molecule, so those smells with many molecules result in many signals (of molecules) sent to the brain.
The interesting thing about this chapter was that we have a lot of useless genes. It makes me curious to imagine life without being able to smell--how do dolphins and whales do it? So basically, smell is not a necessary component of life, it's more like luxury because obviously we can survive without it (i.e. Dolphins and whales). Well, this concludes my short post for a short chapter. :]
- Ejay Yuan
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I agree with you! I myself wonder as well what would happen if we weren't able to smell. We wouldn't be able to smell the good food that we eat, or anything. So it would suck without it. But i'm definitely curious just as you are about what would happen without our sense of smell!
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