Chapter 8: Making Scents

First of all, the title was catchy because like the chapter it made sense as well as make scents. The descriptions were brief in this chapter like "cabbage boiling on the stove top" and "bread baking in the oven" but these made my mouth water and my nose wrinkle. Shubin did a fine job connecting the scents we captivate and the way we do this. He describes: How and Why.
How: the passage of communication was thoroughly described from the odor molecules to the brain nerve cells. this is not new to me but the way he desired the Chord was very clever. how many odor molecules make one note and sympathy and how the smell is a combination of sounds was amazing. Shubin allowed the readers to completely understand what he wanted to say and right to the point just like how the rest of the chapter went.
From land animals to water animals, the kinds of nostrils are different because the odor molecules are slightly different from air and water. The DNA slightly differs in this area and therefore distinguishes the species of the animals. What caught my attention as well as other scientists was the amount of genes not devoted to detecting different kinds of odors. so, let me elaborate. there are more than a million scents in the world from slimy garbage to the warm crispy aroma of a croissant but if this takes up 3% of our genes, then what about the other 97%? This percentage is a lot but this would carry over billions of not trillions of genes that are specialized for every action, every ounce of our body. If this is not incredible, tell me what is. This book constantly brought me closer to myself. Although I am taking yoga, I am fully able to appreciate myself even more.