How many scents do you think the nose can detect? The number used to be 10,000, until now. Now, after a recent study conducted by the Rockefeller University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the number has drastically changed to an astounding
one trillion smells.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimcJw1nBdo_QcjIb72k-rcIdrUagCXGz9CYjZdBCY5ZSRZU7j-WtKTyzwNZK5sppIyBMP3d26MKtLjR06FofqCcjPyztBW4Il_mKqm45k13lXSytxoAfotn30tj7mac03UhQTq2BMjnMby/s1600/smell.gif)
One trillion different smells is incredible, especially considering that the human eye can only detect about two million distinct colors. The scientists at the Rockefeller University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute conducted the experiment by starting with 128 chemicals, then they mixed some together and some individually, sometimes using as much thirty chemicals in a single bottle.
The test subjects would come in and smell three bottles; two bottles had the identical scent but one had a very slight different odor. The scientists then took the percentage of bottles that the test subjects correctly identified, which was very high, and then a mathematician calculated the amount of different smells they could make out of the 128 chemicals.
Using this method, they calculated about a trillion different smells. What is even more interesting is that after these scientists published the research, many other scientists got motivated and now it is believed that even one trillion is an underestimate.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/03/20/291954994/never-mind-eyesight-your-nose-knows-much-more
NoS Themes:
Science is Collaborative
Science is Tentative and Up to Debate
Role of Motivation and Curiosity