Dr. Ally/Allie Louks

And that's its kind of function for us.

So very often in real life, as in literature, smell kind of acts as a way of

sometimes othering people, but also kind of registering discomfort with the otherness of people and their weird ways and behaviors and foods.

Oh my gosh, that really is a big question.

So, okay.

I know more about smell science than I do any other kind of science, that's for sure.

So smell has this very unique relationship to parts of the brain that

really evoke memory and emotion and association as well, the hippocampus.

And one of the things about smell is that it doesn't go through the same kind of processing as other sensory perceptions.

So when we smell something, it evokes very visceral, immediate responses.

And another thing about smell and memory is that the brain can store away olfactory memories basically indefinitely.

And particularly if they're related to kind of key moments, especially in our childhood, but also just in our lives in general, they become very visceral triggers for

form certain feelings and memories.

So as humans, we're very good at associative learning.

So if something has the same kind of qualities as something else, then we're quite good at kind of thinking, oh, okay, that has a kind of

eggy compound, which I know is associated with gas, and therefore I should be concerned by this particular smell.

People have quite a strong reaction to the smell of sulfur, for instance.

Even though the smell of sulfur doesn't really cause us any physical harm, it has components in it that we associate with the kind of gas itself is

odorless, but they will put in a chemical to make us aware of it, that kind of eggy, sulfurous, horrible smell.

And so when we associate that smell with anything else in the world, even if it's not quite the same smell, we know to be suspicious of it.