Smell less - learn less, but live longer?

[oldhen]

A rare day job related post, a couple of recent high profile Science papers have reinforced for me my decision oh so many years back as a starting grad student to focus on studying olfaction, or the sense of smell.

The first study by Jan Born's group, shows that odours specifically seem to enhance consolidation of declarative (more factual)

Comments

[rileen]

Random tangent - do cultures with spicy cuisines lose some life expectancy due to much higher levels of exposure to odours? (of course many of us would say the alternative only feels longer :-p)

A similar point could be made about hygiene, of course.

Thanks for posting this, much food for thought.

[oldhen]

do cultures with spicy cuisines lose some life expectancy due to much higher levels of exposure to odours?

Hmm.. food for thought, indeed. They did only test one odour though, so best to be cautious until there are more tests.. Plus, what point in a smell-less life anyways.. :-)

[deponti]

Ohmigoodness....quite a lot to think about! Sent this to a friend of mine (Udhay Shankar, udhay who has always been particularly interested in this field...

[oldhen]

You're walcum andy, feel free to disseminate to all..

[subtle_blues]

That was a nice post. You should do this more often. Popular science is always fun!

After looking at that good night sleep picture a question popped to my head.. do you know what phase of sleep we are in when sometimes we wake up to answer nature's call or drink water or both in the middle of the night? (please tell me its universal and not just me :-S).

[oldhen]

That was a nice post. You should do this more often

Thanks, just somehow tend to blog when in an angsty or pensive mood, the topics reflect that :-)

please tell me its universal and not just me

I'm sure it's universal, but have no clue which stage.. Sleep in general is a fascinating newish area of research I think, my last fly meeting I met this person who showed that flies that were more sensorily stimulated, slept more..

[rileen]

And i thought i slept so much because i was a lazy bum :-p

[oldhen]

i thought i slept so much because i was a lazy bum

Well, I suppose one can be stimulated in many ways, work being the amongst the most boring.. :-)

[varshax]

Very interesting indeed. Particularly the part about food odours mucking around with life expectancy :o

On a not-really-related note, when I was in 12th, the band played in this high profile inter school band competition. NS had us all shivering in our shoes ...... "come first or come last. Anything in between and you will have to kill yourselves" (whatta guy eh ?) I was sufficiently intimidated ..... so for two weeks before the show, I read the sheet music, every night before I slept and every morning as soon as I woke up. In between, I slept with the sheets under my pillow. It really worked ! I, who had never managed to remember any sheet music in entirety before this, was able to play the piece as if it was my own creation :) I am telling you Minky ..... you need to look into this "seeping through the pillow" phenomenon ..... its going to be the next big thing ;)

[oldhen]

you need to look into this "seeping through the pillow" phenomenon

ha, ha, Learning by diffusion, yes I agree. Although the cynic would say reading the sheet music morning and night probably had something to do with it, but that's just the cynics.. ;-)