The power of the sense of smell | Donald Wilson | TEDxLeuvenSalon

Donald Wilson is a research professor at the Departments of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Physiology and Neuroscience, and a Senior Research Scientist at the Emotional Brain Institute
Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research. His current research focuses on how the mammalian brain processes and remembers information. As a model system he and his team focus on rodent (rat and mice) discrimination and memory for odors.
The evolutionarily oldest sense is the ability to detect and discriminate chemicals around you. Some of those chemicals are small and float in the air and we call those smells. The chemicals come from plants and animals and bacteria and elsewhere, and can provide information about what to eat, what to avoid so as not to be eaten, and with whom to mate. How do we smell? How does our brain change chemicals inhaled up our nose into brie, chardonnay or dirty diaper? The task is made more complex by the fact that most smells we experience are not due to a single type of molecule, but are rather the result of complex mixtures of many types of molecules that our brain merges into a single percept, much like the merging of blue and yellow pigments make green. Wilson will describe how the brain performs the remarkable feat of creating the aroma of coffee and how memory plays an important role in this process.
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[@Eludinium]

Hello, I’ve got hyperosmia, basically I can smell everything, I can smell who’s watering their garden, I can smell who’s been in my house, I can smell when a bulb is about to blow, sometimes I can even smell what illness someone has, I’ve noticed COPD has a very distinct smell.

[@user-cr2ro9tt2z]

U are blessed

[@rajs7661]

I can also smell everything and everyone

[@a12i9]

Wow, this is so interesting! I bet for you it's mandatory that you like the smell of your friends and partner.

[@designyourlife7545]

May I connect you?

[@user-cr2ro9tt2z]

So much science . But very clearly described ..

[@orchadiasolutions]

What a great talk. Very well explained and will recommend to my perfume training students.

[@nicholasmeno5255]

This is great

[@plymouthlad38]

I have no sense of smell due to having Kallmann syndrome. There is a whole world of sensation I miss out with not being able to smell but I tend not to notice it now. Often it is other people who remind me that I can not smell.

[@yasinv3743]

I m so sorry to hear but what is this kaliimann syndrome? I lost by smell n taste nni have ringing in my ears

[@plymouthlad38]

Kallmann syndrome is a rare genetic condition that affects puberty. One of its symptoms is congenital anosmia. I have never been able to smell. People with Kallmann syndrome do not go through normal puberty and they also do not have a sense of smell.

[@user-cr2ro9tt2z]

Awesome .

[@SaveManWoman]

Was waiting on how to instead of why. But power was on his brain side rather than heart and nose. 👃

[@kimizalameda3835]

Thats me

[@ahmet.turunc]

I can't understand the last words because English is not my own language. He says stop smell roses. What does it mean exactly?

[@MAP3698]

“Stop and smell the roses” is a symbolic way to say: take time to pause from the distractions of the material world and pay attention to the simple joys in life. To stop and smell roses is mindfulness and conscious awareness. It is a return to the wisdom of mother earth. The scent of roses in particular is considered to be devotional and healing. Roses convey love, compassion, beauty. At the end, he said that strengthening our relationship to scent could affect our brain health and memory as we get older. In this way, the saying “stop and smell the roses” is also a practice, like meditation or yoga. These mindful moments over time can help us develop a stronger connection to our brain’s subtle olfactory system and improve overall brain functioning.

[@yasinv3743]

I have lost everything noe semse of smell n taste

[@davwht9]

Humans live in a sensory depravated. Environment. In concrete and steel cities. Compared to the glorious Flora Natural world of the past. India kinda has that old glory natural environment still. How to know all thats been lost by extinction. Of herbs, Floral. Etc etc not to mention the beauty of sound. Song birds in their harmony and symphony of mix with other sound of creatures. Etc etc plus. Glory of. Colors. And so on. Smell and a memory. A smelling and a memory emotion. 😇💞💖👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧🌺🌹🌻🌸🌷🍀🌲🍄🍟🍔🍕🍞🍮

[@pkiler]

Yes, good for basic knowledge people, personally, I kept waiting for the "Good Stuff, but alas...

[@IainCampbell008]

Hi Paul. Great to see you decided to discover the world of Google+. You are right of course that this video is dull so why don't you post one about your skills as an artisan perfumer?