[Preegovesem]

1)

Females, regardless of age, have a better sense of smell then males T or F?

2) There is tremendous

variation in scent perception. In other words, a rose is not a rose is not a rose; no two people smell the same odor

the same way and even in one individual, no odor smells the same from one day to the next. T or F?

3) Men

who have engaged in sex more frequently in the past month find the smell of strawberries particualry arousing. T or

F?

4) The average human being is able to recognize approximately 20,000 different odors. T or F?



5) In humans, the sense of smell plateaus at the age of eight and may begin to decline in sensitivity by as

early as age 15 and most likely by age 20. Just forget about it if you old enough to drink or smoke legally or are,

God Forbid, even older. T or F?

6) The blind have been shown to have a keener sense of smell than their

sighted counterparts, perhaps in compensation. T or F?

7) Dogs and Pigs have the world's most sensitive

noses. Pigs can locate truffles underground and bloodhounds are able to track a human after smelling only five

steps. T or F?

8) Your sense of smell is better in the morning. T or F?

9) People do not smell as

well lying down. T or F?

10) The US Department of Defense has funded research to develop a powerful weapon

based on scent. Its inventor and the DOD refer to it as "Stench Soup." T or F?




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Correct

Answers



Females, regardless of age, have a better sense of smell then males.

1)

False. In studies of prepubescent boys and girls and in men and women over the age of 45, olfactory acuity was

found to be the same for both males and females. However, women of child bearing age have been demonstrated to have

a far keener sense of smell than males, detecting concentrations of odors at levels as much as 1000 times lower (in

the case of musks) than what males are able to detect. There is no set number of times greater, such as fertile

women have a sense of smell 10, 40 or whatever times greater than males; sensitivity varies according to the

indivdual odor. Women's keener sense of smell peaks each month when estrogen levels are at their highest (during

ovulation.) It is thought that estrogen levels play a decisvie role in the olfactory superiority of young women as

the nose structures, number of olfactory receptors and other physical characteristics associated with the ability to

smell are the same for both men and women. It has also been demonstrated that women (both childbearing and older)

engage larger active areas of their brain when smelling than men.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1796447.stm

There is tremendous variation in scent

perception.

2) True. Says Robert Bonkowski, neuropathogist and consultant to the Fragrance Foundation's

Sense of Smell Insitute. A person never experiences one scent the same way twice. A person's sensitivity to an odor

and ability to detect it strongly, weakly or not at all changes from day to day, according to his or her

physiological condition at that moment.

http://www.senseofsmell.org/ (click on Fun facts at

bottom of home page)

Men who have engaged in sex more frequently in the past month find the smell


of strawberries particualry arousing.

3) True. Dr. Alan Hirsch, Director of the Chicago-based Smell and

Taste Treatment Center and Institute's 2005 study showed that while generally speaking certain scent combinations

elicited arousal across the board, there were variations according to age and sexual frequency in particular. Men

who had been very sexually active in the month prior to testing were significantly more aroused by the scent of

strawberries. Older men were more sensitive and responsive to vanilla than younger men.



http://www.sexualhealth.com/article....&article_id=13

The average human

being is able to recognize approximately 20,000
different odors.

4) False. Humans can detect

approximately 4,000 - 10,000 different odors.



http://www.cf.ac.uk/biosi/staff/jaco...y/olfact1.html

In humans, the sense

of smell plateaus at the age of eight.

5) True. Infants and the very young are understandably most acute in

their sense of smell as a survival skill. However, training seems to influence scent sensitivity enormously and some

80-year olds have the same scent sensitivity as young adults. All basenotes members, being highly trained, maintain

the noses of 8 year olds!

http://www.sirc.org/publik/smell_human.html

The blind

have been shown to have a keener sense of smell.

6) False. A recent study at the University of Pennsylvania

debunked this commonly held belief. In their tests, the group of individuals with the most acute olfactory sense

were employees of the Philadelphia Water Department who evaluate water quality as their job. The Penn researchers

determined that it is training which most influences performance on smell tests.



http://www.sirc.org/publik/smell_human.html

Dogs and Pigs have the world's most

sensitive noses.

7) False again. (I am too mean) But the part about pigs smelling truffles and dogs being

able to form a scent memory after only five steps is true. Although dogs have 200,000,000 (Two hundred million)

olfactory receptors to our 5-6 million*, Moths are the true aristocrats of the scent kingdom. A male moth can detect

and hone in on a scent originating from up to 2.5 miles away or a concentration of one molecule per

100,000,000,000,000,000 (a zillion, literally) -- contrast to us scent-feeble humans requiring an average of 71

molecules per trillion --100,000,000,000,000, or three additional decimal points and 70 additional molecules) If

Moths are so clever scent-wise, you may ask, why are they always fluttering around a stinking candle flame until

their wings singe?** Odors are vibrating molecules with Infrared frequencies; part of why we (and moths) smell them

is sensitivity to their vibrations. Seems flickering candlelight has the same IR frequency as a lady moth's sex

pheremones.

http://www.txtwriter.com/Onscience/A...Chemistry.html
*

http://www.senseofsmell.org/


**http://www.cf.ac.uk/biosi/staff/jaco...y/olfact1.html

Your sense of

smell is better in the morning.

8) False again. Sense of smell is least acute in the morning and increases

through the day.

http://www.senseofsmell.org/ (Fun facts page)

People do not smell

as well lying down.

9) True. The phrase should really be, "Sit up and smell the coffee."[Lundstrom et

al., (2006) "Sit up and smell the roses better: olfactory sensitivity to phenyl ethyl alcohol is dependent on body

position". Chemical Senses, e-print ahead of publication, doi:10.1093/chemse/bjj025]



http://www.cf.ac.uk/biosi/staff/jaco...l#Lie%20down%2 0and%20smell%20less



The DOD has funded research to develop "Stench Soup."

10) True. Pam Dalton of the Monell

Institute, Philadelphia has invented a mixture of noxious odors which she dubbed "Stench Soup" that can incapacitate

targets with overwhelming nausea. The US DOD is interested in it as a non-lethal weapon for use in circumstancess

where a high concentration of civilian non-combatants precludes more deadly force.



http://www.cf.ac.uk/biosi/staff/jaco...l#Lie%20down%2

0and%20smell%20less>

[dmoiknlasd]

very interesting and enjoyable

post!

A few small observations:

4) I can't imagine anyone caring in the slightest whether we can

differentiate between 10,000 or 20,000 different odors.
A more useful question would be whether we could tell the

difference between thousands, hundreds, or millions.

5) Just like how the number of taste buds in the human

mouth sharply declines as we grow older. A baby's entire mouth is covered with them, but they are pretty much

confined to the tongue by the time we are an adult.

6) misleading question. The blind have TRAINED their

sense of smell, due to the lack of their sense of sight.

7) Incorrect (since you're being rather literal).

Moths don't have noses. They breathe through their spiracles and 'smell' with their

antennae.
http://butterflywebsite.com/faq.cfm


Very informative post! Keep them

coming!

Riley

[Jourgenz]

I remember when I

quit smoking. All good smelling things still smelled the same to me, no better, no worse. But, bad smelling things

(the bay in Tampa Bay comes to mind) became much worse for me.