Secrets of smell land Nobel Prize

[emad]

BBC News


Two US scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for uncovering the secrets of the human sense of smell.

The way the brain recognises and remembers thousands of different odours has long baffled scientists.

Professor Richard Axel, of Columbia University, and Professor Linda Buck, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, cracked the problem.

The Nobel Prize, the most prestigious in medicine, is worth $1.3m.
More:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3713134.stm

[trotsky]

1. Fascinating

Smell is different from the other senses in that the sensory cells are continually dying and being replaced by new cells that have to be wired up correctly in the brain.

I didn't know that. Understanding that process in itself could lead to a cure for paralysis, blindness, who knows what else. Because even if we learn to regenerate nerve cells, rewiring them to work properly is a big problem to overcome.

[GAspnes]

2. "Humans can distinguish over 10,000 different smells."

That's what you get for being the oldest sense. Fascinating work.