Chapter 8. Making Scents

To be completely honest, I was really glad that this chapter was short and to the point. After reading the long chapter 7, I wasn't too excited about the next one. Anyways, in this chapter Shubin talks about our sense of smell, and how it developed and how it works. This chapter was interesting to me for two reasons. The primary reason: I've always been curious how our senses work, not just smell, but taste, touch, and sight as well. The secondary reason: I was curious when I started reading the chapter how our body can differentiate between so many different odors that are out there, and how fast our olfactory system reacts to a smell by sending the signal to our brain. What Shubin does best, is compare our bodies and it's functions to those of other creatures that we can't imagine having any similarities with. I knew that whales and dolphins are mammals, and that they use blowholes to breathe, but I never knew that they don't have a sense of smell. It's really amazing that dolphins use sonar to communicate with eachother and find food, etc. Shubin talks about the difference in smelling between fish and mammals. For example, the fact that fish have water-based receptors and mammals have air-based ones. Shubin also talks about our trade-off between sight and smell as evolution took it's phenomenon. The fact that early primates had a better sense of smell makes it easier to understand how they survived. To be the predator, a good sense of smell is essential, and even a better sense of smell is essential to not become the prey. As evolution took place, our sense of sight grew stronger which helps humans today function in the technological age we live in and progress with the advancements in technology. I think it's a reasonable trade. I don't think I have to worry about smelling another animal in my neighborhood that would be out to kill me. :]

, Anany