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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 1: Sniff, Sniff

You’ve got five senses that help you find your way through the world. Animals also use sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste, but animals have keener senses than humans. Humans rely on intellect and reason to make up for not being able to hear or smell as well as animals. How can you tell if you have a good sense of smell?

According to scientists, bigger noses do not make better smellers. In fact, more skin and cartilage in a nose can make the nostrils smaller. The key to better smelling is in the size of the nostrils. It took 95 noses in a three-year study to realize that larger nostrils provide a better sense of smell. If you have larger nostrils, you can enjoy the vibrant scent of flowers, fresh baked cookies, garbage, and gym socks more than your neighbor with smaller nostrils.

Scientists also discovered that your right nostril notices more scent than your left, so try to keep your right nostril away from foul smells as much as possible.

Since 75% of your ability to taste is actually your ability to smell the food, perhaps bigger nostrils also means more tasting ability. Your tongue can only tell temperature and texture, and whether or not food is bitter, sweet, salty, or sour. However, the majority of taste comes from food’s odor--which travels through the nostrils. Maybe bigger nostrils affect more human senses than we knew.

--Written by Katheryn Troyer

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