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Please, take some time to answer this short questionnaire, which will help me evaluate the effectiveness of my exhibition in communicating science:

- On a scale from 1 to 10: How much did you like the exhibition?
- On a scale from 1 to 10: How interesting did you find the exhibition?
- On a scale from 1 to 10: How much has this exhibition changed your opinion on olfaction?
- On a scale from 1 to 10: How much new knowledge has this exhibition brought you?

- On a scale from 1 to 10: How well has the exhibition communicated information about olfaction?
-  On a scale from 1 to 10: How interesting do you find research on olfactory neurons?

- On a scale from 1 to 10: How motivated are you to learn more about research on olfaction and olfactory neurons?
- On a scale from 1 to 10: How well has this exhibition brought art and science together?

- Would you recommend this exhibition to a friend?
- Do you have any comments to make on how to improve this exhibition?

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Thank you so much for your visit, I hope you enjoyed the exhibition! 

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Thank you so much for your visit, I hope you enjoyed the exhibition! 

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Other artistic pieces using smell as a medium

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Other artistic pieces using smell as a medium

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Poster made by Ana to explain her research during a series of 5-minute talks, each covering just a bite-sized bit of research, at Cambridge University.

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Normally, neurons in your brain have one long cable that snakes away from the main part of the cell. This cable is called an axon and it is where electrical impulses from the neuron travel away to be transmitted to other neurons.

Ana is a Post-Doc in the Grubb Lab. Her research focuses on olfactory neurons without axons, which is a type of neuron that is still largely unknown.

Ana focuses on the properties of these neurons and specifically:
- how these neurons regulate their own activity
- how these neurons communicate with other neurons: how do they release chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) since they don't have axons, which is where neurotransmitters are usually released

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An adult-born neuron in the olfactory bulb (magenta)

Smells like lavender

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Miriam Songster, “The Green Scent of Pink” (2005)

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Miriam Songster, “The Green Scent of Pink” (2005)

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In this project, the pinkness of the room sets up an expectation. The smell of the room, a grass smell that is strongly associated with the color green, belies this expectation. By setting up a disjuncture between the expectations created by our visual sense and what is experienced through our least mediated sense, that of smell, this space temporarily alters the relationship between expectation, intention, and perception.

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Mitchell Heinrich, “Smell Graffiti” (2009)

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Mitchell Heinrich, “Smell Graffiti” (2009)

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As part of an arts residency in Vienna, Heinrich invented a new form of street art using smell, literally tagging with canned scents. Scent is intrinsically tied to memory, and chances are the smell of grass in an underground subway stop would not only be a respite from the urban drag, but evoke memories that would be impossible to recreate with everyday spray paint.

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Go visit the Scent Art Net: https://scentartnet.tumblr.com/

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JOSELY CARVALHO, "ARCHITECTANDO" (2009)
In 2007, the artist photographed a small bird that was in the process of building its nest when it flew into a glass window of her home. The photos made her understand the difficulties birds have in building and maintaining their shelters. From these photographs, Carvalho constructed a sculptural installation, Nidus Vitreo (Glass Nest), a nest of one thousand branches molded in glass resin. In this installation, she added sound and projection both manipulated algorithmically through a computer program. The artist also produced four original smells in collaboration with Givaudan do Brasil. The four smells are: Smell of Nest, Wet Earth, Open Sea and Hot Sun. These labor-intensive ephemeral sculptures are based on avian architecture and the smells in them reinforce their impermanent character. The first sculptural version, Architectando, was presented at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea in São Paulo in 2009. A larger and more complete sculptural version was shown at the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes in Rio de Janeiro in 2010. Two years later, Carvalho converted the sculpture into an abandoned nest, Passages, at SESC Gallery in São Paulo.

CMP CONCEPT (Marcel van Brakel & Frederik Duerinck) "FAMOUS DEATHS" (2014) Audio-odor installation launched at Museum of the Image in Breda, Netherlands
Winner of the first Sadakichi Award for Experimental Use of Scent, Famous Deaths is a project by a collaborative group that was part of the Sense of Smell Conference at the Museum of the Image (MOTI) in the Netherlands. Famous Deaths recreates the final moments in the life of a famous person by means of scent. Smell Princess Diana's fatal destiny, John F. Kennedy's tragedy, Gaddaffi's desperate flight in a sewer or Whitney Houston's last sob.

Read more about it at:
The Institute for Art and Olfaction: Art and Olfaction Awards
The New Yorker: What Did Qaddafi's Death Smell Like?
Project website: www.famousdeaths.nl

BRIAN GOELTZENLEUCHTER, "SILLAGE" (2014) olfactory artwork launched at the Santa Monica Museum of Art Photo (SMMoA Patron Demographic Profile)

Sillage begins as a collection of eleven fragrances that represent the major regions of Los Angeles. Designed by Brian Goeltzenleuchter, the scents are based on a survey he created in which Los Angeles residents were asked to describe the smells they associate with various neighborhoods. Each fragrance can be thought of as a scent-scape: a fragrance in which a distinctive background smell describing the sky and ground creates a foundation, on top of which episodic smells reveal themselves over time. At the Santa Monica Museum of Art, patrons approach the Sillage booth and identify the region in which they live to the Museum's staff, who log the data and spray a corresponding scent on the patron's wrist. Over the course of the day, a collective scent of the Museum's demographic fills the space. Upon closing, the artist will use data from the event to formulate a bespoke perfume that will be donated to the Museum.

PETER DE CUPERE, "SWEAT" (2010)
In 2010, Jan Fabre invited several artists to integrate art into his dance lab, Troubleyn. One of these artists, Peter De Cupere made a work titled "Sweat", a performance, choreographed by Fabre, where the sweat of five dancers was collected. The dancers wore specially designed costumes that were made out of plastic and connected by tubes. Before the action, De Cupere made a separate dish for each dancer, the intention being to catch the sweat from the dancers and distill it. After the performance, the sweat was sprayed on a wall of the dance lab and protected by a glass box. Visitors can then smell the sweat in the glass through a small hole, while the performance is being shown by video in the glass tank. You can see the video here: http://vimeo.com/18355185

CLARA URSITTI, "BIRCH BITCH" (2010)
(Scent, robotic vacuum cleaner, old leather jackets)
A witch's hat moves around the room as if it has a life of its own. At times it is absolutely still, and uncannily starts to move, bumping into other artworks, furniture and walls in the gallery/domestic space, moving from room to room. It smells like it is burning.
(At Nomi's Kitchen, part of Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art)

SANDS MURRAY-WASSINK, "ACCEPTANCE ART" (2013)
In a 'feminist strategy' to olfactory art, Sands Murray-Wassink presents an interactive performance titled "Acceptance Art" (the title is painted on his bare chest) in which stories of personal taste and perfumes are attentively exchanged. (Here Murray-Wassink is carefully selecting the perfect perfume for a person he encountered at the opening.) Murray-Wassink has used his perfume collection before in a work titled "Monument to Depression" (2004-2007), in which the installation of 170 fragrances was presented as a variation on the Duchamp readymade with an autobiographical dimension. The hundreds of perfumes are displayed until January 5th at Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam, part of 'The Temptation of AA Bronson' exhibit: www.wdw.nl/event/the-temptation-of-aa-bronson

RACHAEL MORRISON, "SMELLING THE BOOKS" (2010)

Morrison is a Senior Assistant at the MoMA library. In early 2010, she began the performance "Smelling the Books", which consists of her smelling every book in the collection. Her performance started with the first call number in the Library of Congress classification system AC5.S4 1934, "Sermons by Artists", and she will smell until she reaches ZN3.R45, "Bibliography of the History of Art". She documents the performance in a ledger, recording the call number, title, and a description of the smell of each book.

SITA KURATOMI BHAUMIK, "MCDXCII" (2010)
A living room with curry as wallpaper and table design.
The work's title (1492 in Arabic numerals) demands attention to the oft-ignored history behind our food. Curry, thought of as quintessentially Asian, would not have become spicy were it not for Columbus' voyage and the resulting introduction of American chili to the Old World. The golden goblets and the chocolate coins that fill them are forever tied together by the trade value of chocolate for South American colonizers. As the artist is of Bengali, Japanese, and Colombian descent, these histories are personal as much as they are culinary. Bhaumik noted that attendees were reluctant to get up close and personal and smell the curry wallpaper, until she or her friends set the lead. This suggests that even at an event billed as being for all five senses, the intimate relationship between art and vision still dominates.
Bhaumik is currently a Research Fellow at The Institute for Art and Olfaction.

MITCHELL HEINRICH, "SMELL GRAFFITI" (2009)
As part of an arts residency in Vienna, Heinrich invented a new form of street art using smell, literally tagging with canned scents. Scent is intrinsically tied to memory, and chances are the smell of grass in an underground subway stop would not only be a respite from the urban drag, but evoke memories that would be impossible to recreate with everyday spray paint.

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JOSELY CARVALHO, "ARCHITECTANDO" (2009) In 2007, the artist photographed a small bird that was in the process of building its nest when it flew into a glass window of her home. The photos made her understand the difficulties birds have in building and maintaining their shelters.

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Odours of the morning and the evening: Singapore

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Odours of the morning and the evening: Singapore

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Large scale maps that explore collective, diurnal difference; the smellwalk research in Singapore was to compare the morning and evening smellscapes along the same route. Kate developed a methodology for this process that involved hand painting all the smell perceptions of participants along the walk routes, and then creating outlines. The morning and evening data are superimposed on each other resulting in comparative topologies of smell duration.

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Every hospital has a particular smell, much like every city these smellscapes comprise a specific combination of odours. This project explores how the NHS hospital might be conceived and understood through its smellscape alone. Interactions of people, cleaning equipment and residual food and drink make for a contingent, intense and pervasive smellscape.

The virtual map requires you use your imagination to conjure the smells; from the weak and insipid coffee floating near the hospital canteen to the many bodies in the busy entrance halls, from metallic odours of stale blood emanating from the operating theatre to the sweaty, sticky, stale pong of the waiting room.

Research took the form of an open question snowballed to friends and colleagues of the Sensing Spaces team members and the designer. The smell descriptions were simplified from the original longer descriptions and collected into similar spaces. Smell shapes are an artistic interpretation of the descriptor.

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Some olfactory art pieces by Kate McLean

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Some olfactory art pieces by Kate McLean

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Kate McLean is an artist, designer, lecturer and researcher at the University of Kent and she works at the intersection of human-perceived smellscapes, cartography and the communication of ‘eye-invisible’ sensed data.

To achieve this, she leads international public smellwalks and translate the resulting data using digital design, watercolour, animation, scent diffusion and sculpture into smellscape mappings.

In 2019, she completed her PhD, “Nose-first: practices of smell walking and smellscape mapping” at the Royal College of Art.

You can have a look at her portfolio on: https://sensorymaps.com/projects/

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Imagine the following scenario:

I give a coloured light cap (see image) to three groups of people:
- Red light
- Green light
- Purple light
These people will represent the antibody and their cap is the fluorophore.

Another group of people will wear T-shirts with the following colours:
- Red
- Green
- Purple
These people will represent the antigene.

When a person with a light cap meets a person with a t-shirt that matches their colour, they have to stay together and move as a pair.

Consequently, if put these people in the courtyard of Guy's Campus and I look at them from the Shard at night, I will be able to see three groups of people: red, green and purple.

Now imagine the courtyard is the olfactory bulb and each colour corresponds to a different type of olfactory cell:
- Red for people who represent olfactory sensory neurons (receptors)
- Green for people who represent mitral cells
- Purple for people who represent support cells

We would therefore be able to see the different cell types since they are fluorescent because their specific antigenes bind to an antibody-fluorophore complex.

Fluorescence works like that but in cells, which are then observed with a microscope.

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An odorant enters your nose. How does your nose know what it is? The olfactory sensory neurons have lots of different olfactory receptors that are kind of like locks. They need a specific key to activate. Each odorant has different a different chemical makeup and shape that makes it fit into some olfactory receptors, but not others. After a neuron detects an odorant, it sends a signal to the olfactory bulb. Since each neuron has only one kind of receptor on it and is specific for one odorant, each neuron sends a signal to a different spot in the olfactory bulb. The brain will interpret a smell based on which combination of spots in the olfactory bulb is stimulated.

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Odour recognition game that will be displayed on a screen to help understand odour recognition

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Watch Matt Grubb's contribution to this video about smell loss (anosmia) in Covid:

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Watch Matt Grubb's contribution to this video about smell loss (anosmia) in Covid:

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Why does coronavirus affect our sense of smell?

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Why does coronavirus affect our sense of smell? https://t.co/w0s8AijZG0

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Why does coronavirus affect our sense of smell? pic.twitter.com/w0s8AijZG0
— Horizon Magazine (@HorizonMagEU) June 26, 2020

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Why does coronavirus affect our sense of smell? https://t.co/w0s8AijZG0

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Why does coronavirus affect our sense of smell? https://t.co/w0s8AijZG0

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Why does coronavirus affect our sense of smell?

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Website: https://grubblab.org/
Twitter: @GrubbLab

If you want to contribute to important research on olfactory neurons, more information can be found here:
https://grubblab.org/join-us/

If you want to donate money to fund the Grubb Lab research you can contact: matthew.grubb@kcl.ac.uk

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Interactive displays are always better to understand and learn so to explain odour recognition, the exhibition would have a game on a screen, with three different odours: coffee, rose and lemon.

Each odour will be 'made of' 3 different molecules (coloured triangles):
- coffee: red, blue, yellow
- rose: pink, blue, green
- lemon: yellow, green, purple

The visitors will then be able to take molecules (that will be scrambled) and match them to the corresponding receptor (same colour) in the olfactory epithelium.

When a molecule is matched with its receptor, a light will show that the associated path is activated and that a signal is transmitted.

The right combination of molecules will result in the display of an image of the odorant element (coffee, rose or lemon) in the brain (see sketch ->).

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Olfactory dysfunction is among the earliest clinical features of Alzheimer's disease, preceding cognitive impairments.

Olfactory function tests are inexpensive and simple to perform at the bedside. They could therefore be used for early diagnosis of the disease, as early intervention is crucial to mitigate the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

Moreover, preliminary research suggests that stimulating olfactory regions may help reduce some brain changes associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Research in olfactory neurons is therefore very important to develop new treatment strategies for prevalent disorders such as Alzheimer's Disease.

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To think about odour recognition in the brain, visitors will be able to play Smell Bingo.

In this game, each player is assigned a sheet with 6 odours (i.e., orange, vanilla, rose, etc). They then have to try different smell boxes and guess which ones match the odours on their sheet.

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Art and beauty are everywhere. This part of the exhibition will showcase some beautiful olfactory art and will merge art and smell to create a memorable experience.

To showcase the hidden beauty in olfactory neurons, here are some images from the Grubb Lab (that will be printed in A3 format and displayed in the room).

Since images from light microscopy can be a little bit boring to watch for non-scientists, I will use odours that match the colours of the images. This smell will be diffused by a machine like the one in the picture.

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Another approach to Spinal Cord Regeneration

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Another approach to Spinal Cord Regeneration

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Another approach to Spinal Cord Regeneration is the transplant of olfactory ensheathing cells.

What are Olfactory Ensheathing Cells (OECs)?

OECs are not neurons, they are cells of the olfactory nervous system that support the natural regeneration of the olfactory nerve that occurs throughout life.

These cells exhibit unique properties supporting neuronal survival and growth.

Transplantation of OECs is emerging as a promising treatment for spinal cord injury but further research needs to be conducted to develop successful and standardised transplantation methods.

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Emily's project aims to compare (in mice) the function of neurons during olfactory bulb recovery to the function of neurons in the spinal cord following spinal cord injury, to determine whether any differences are present which may underlie the disparity in regenerative capacity.

The aim of this research is to earn lessons from a system that is capable of complete, naturally occurring regeneration.
The findings could help develop new strategies to promote spinal cord regeneration.

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Despite decades of intensive research, spinal cord injury remains incurable. A strong focus of current therapeutic approaches to this problem is the replacement of damaged axons, either by encouraging regrowth of damaged fibres or by establishing novel projections.

Connections between the olfactory epithelium and olfactory bulb (see image of olfactory system above) show robust capacity for regeneration and recovery of functional connectivity throughout life. By contrast, the mammalian adult spinal cord shows limited regenerative capacity after neuronal connections are severed in spinal cord injury.

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Studying neuroregeneration in the olfactory bulb

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Studying neuroregeneration in the olfactory bulb

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Emily is doing her PhD in the Grubb's Lab - looking at neuroregeneration mechanisms of neurons in the olfactory bulb and in the spinal cord.

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Neuroregeneration refers to the regrowth or repair of nervous tissues, cells or cell products.

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Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to change and adapt due to experience.
It is an umbrella term referring to the brain's ability to change, reorganise, or grow neural networks.

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The lab is interested in how electrical activity influences the development of olfactory neurons.
This is the first brain region to receive information about smells from the nose.  It processes that information and then passes it onto other parts of the olfactory system where our perceptions of smell and flavour are created.

The lab is interested in the olfactory bulb because they are fascinated by how our sense of smell works, and also because it has some unusual properties which make it a great model system to study basic processes of maturation in the brain such as neuroplasticity.

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Tips for happiness: smells that elicit positive feelings and emotions

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Tips for happiness: smells that elicit positive feelings and emotions

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Disclaimer: the evidence behind these is unclear, with effects that are generally small. It is worth giving it a try but please don't expect spectacular results.

Lemon

The clean and refreshing scent of fresh lemon has the power to enhance your performance and improve your attitude if there is something that you are stressed out about.

Lavender

Lavender has been used as aromatherapy for decades. It has strong healing properties that have been shown to reduce stress levels.

Jasmine

Jasmine, similar to lavender, is used to calm the nerves of those that are stressed out or overwhelmed. Not only does it reduce those feelings of stress, but it actually is able to stimulate feelings of positivity and energy.

Peppermint

Peppermint is a great tool to be used during brainstorming, as it has been shown to invigorate the mind while creating a feeling of clarity.

Patchouli

It has been shown to increase confidence in people, leading people to work better and harder.

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Sissel Tolaas' project started in 2005 when twenty men with severe phobia were given a small, custom-made device to carry around with them at all times. When a man would feel a fear attack coming on, he would place the device under his armpit and the equipment would suck in the sweat and register its molecules. This information would be sent to Tolaas, who then simulated the sweat in her Research Lab in Berlin. The sweat molecules were reproduced and micro-encapsulated using nanotechnology. This meant that the molecules were safely enclosed in micro-units, which can only be activated by touch. These micro-units were then integrated into a transparent, neutral-smelling binder, and applied to a wall without any clear borders except for a little markation in the left corner of each area. This resembles the randomness of bodies moving next to each other. By touching the wall, the smells are released.

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To show the smell of fear, I could display the work of Sissel Tolaas (with her consent) in the exhibition.

People would therefore be able to experience the smell of fear and will be able to give feedback on their experience.

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A 2012 study at Utrecht University in the Netherlands collected armpit sweat from people watching fear-evoking scenes from horror films. The researchers then exposed other volunteers to the odour of these samples and monitored their response.
These odours triggered well-established facial and behavioural hallmarks of a fearful response, whereas sweat collected under emotionally neutral conditions did not.
It was also observed that smelling fear-induced sweat can provoke strong physiological responses, such as increased heart rate and higher blood pressure.

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As humans grow, sight takes over as the sense that guides us through the world. But there is evidence that olfactory cues continue to play a subtle part in navigating social situations and responding to the emotions of others. Much of the work in this field so far has centred around the reliance on olfactory sensing to steer us away from dangerous situations on the basis of odour cues produced by other people.

"We can smell fear", says Valentina Parma, a psychologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. This scent elicits a strong physiological and psychological reaction even if people are not consciously aware of what they’re smelling, she says. “This means that we’re going to be more avoidant, or faster at scanning the environment, or we self-report that we feel more poorly.”

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Hexadecanal, a molecule secreted from the heads of newborns, reduces aggression in men.

However, if found that the molecule affects men one way, and has the opposite effect on women.

This molecule, the researchers found, decreases connectivity in parts of the brain that regulate social decision making in women, while in men it increases this connectivity. These brain differences may underlie the different behavioural outcomes.

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In the most elegant fashion, Proust nails the phenomenon of  “involuntary memory”. This is the way that a sensory experience can suddenly bring back a hidden recollection.

Extensive research shows that these smell-induced memories are more emotional and evocative than recollections elicited by other sensory stimuli, such as sight or sound. They also tend to be older, flooding your brain with feelings of childhood.

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To show the emotional component of memory, visitors will have the opportunity to smell different odours from smell pods (see image 1) located in the room.

Next to each smell pod, they will have the opportunity to write a memory associated with that smell (see image 2).
This will result in a collection of beautiful personal memories, for each smell - showing the power of olfaction.

This display will include 6 smell pods with the following odours: old book, apple crumble, fresh-cut grass, sunscreen, crayons and laundry detergent.

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"Write a memory associated with the smell you have just experienced."

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By studying plasticity in the olfactory bulb, we hope to stimulate research into novel treatments for smell disorders – a serious set of conditions with huge impact on people’s health and quality of life, and which affect a surprisingly large proportion of the population.

Specifically, if we can understand the plastic processes by which olfactory bulb circuits respond to regeneration in their inputs, maybe we can hijack those same processes to make that regeneration even more effective.

More broadly, by investigating the mechanisms and consequences of adult neurogenesis, we hope to one day inform treatment strategies trying to replace human cells lost through injury or disease. If we’re trying to replace old cells with new cells, why not take a few hints from the way the brain does it all by itself?

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Dopaminergic cells (magenta) in the olfactory bulb

Smells like flowers, light grassy notes

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This exhibition will be held in the Science Gallery from the 1st to the 26th of May.

The exhibition will be open to King's students and researchers as well as members of the public.

The exhibition will be divided into 6 rooms, which correspond to different rooms of the Science Gallery.

Regarding the material from this portfolio, all the videos will be displayed on screens available at the Science Gallery and the photos, infographics and texts will be printed and displayed on the walls. The interactive displays will be placed in the middle to make sure people make the most of them.

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Room 5 - The applications of research on olfactory neurons in medecine 

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Room 5 - The applications of research on olfactory neurons in medecine 

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Now that you have been introduced to olfaction and its importance, this part of the exhibition will show the work of the Grubb Lab and its various applications to medicine.

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Watch this 4-minute video to better understand how smell can trigger memories

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“I carried to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had let soften a bit of madeleine. But at the very instant when the mouthful of tea mixed with cake crumbs touched my palate, I quivered, attentive to the extraordinary thing that was happening inside me.”

- Marcel Proust, in his 1913 novel: “À la recherche du temps perdu”

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All other sensory information (what you see, hear, taste, or touch) is processed through the thalamus (a.k.a. the brain’s “sensory switchboard”) before being relayed to the relevant brain regions, but olfactory information takes a direct route to the emotional and memory centres of the brain: the amygdala and hippocampus.

Simply put, the parts of the brain where olfaction is processed and the regions of the brain responsible for processing emotions and memories are intertwined in the same general structure.

“In fact, what’s known as the amygdala-hippocampal complex is also the primary olfactory cortex,” explains Rachel Herz, cognitive neuroscientist and leading expert on the psychological science of smell.

Interestingly, smell has the ability to elicit a strong emotional response without the recollection of an explicit memory. Sometimes it’s just the feeling we recall.

When you encounter a smell tied to something meaningful in your past, you first feel the emotion followed by a cognitive recognition, information that was stored in your brain.

Smell is the only sense that appears to work like that. All of our other senses are what Herz refers to as top-down: you recognize the stimuli cognitively and then the feeling follows, no matter how immediate.

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TedTalk by Rachel Hertz on the Importance of Smell

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TedTalk by Rachel Hertz on the Importance of Smell

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Video to be displayed in one of the screen in the 'living room' of the Science Gallery.

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Smell, Your Least Appreciated Sense | Rachel Herz | TEDxNatick

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These beautiful images of cells were obtained using immunofluorescence and light microscopy.

Immunofluorescence is a common laboratory technique, based on the use of specific antibodies which have been chemically conjugated to fluorescent dyes.
These labelled antibodies bind directly or indirectly to cellular antigens, allowing them to be visible with light microscopy.

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1. Humans Can Detect At Least One Trillion Different Smells

Although the exact number is yet to be determined, scientists revealed in a 2014 journal that humans can identify at least one trillion different smells. It is thought that the actual number may be significantly higher than this, however, thanks to the 10 million smell receptors in everybody’s nose.

2. Everyone Smells Slightly Different

Our own smell is personal to us, and completely unique. How we smell is predetermined, and comes from the same genes which determine our body’s tissue type.

3. And Everyone Can Smell Slightly Differently

We all have our ‘scent blind spots’, smells which we cannot pick up. This means that we all smell things differently, and the scents we enjoy are entirely unique to us.

4. The UK’s Favourite Smell is Freshly Baked Bread

A 2015 poll of 2,000 UK adults found that a freshly-baked loaf is the favourite smell in the UK. After that, roses, vanilla, lavender, lemon and scented candles were at the top spot.

5. We Can Smell Before We Are Born

Smell is the first sense to develop, with unborn babies enjoying fully-formed and functioning smell. This sense then continues to play a major role in our early development, with the smell of crayons routinely noted as one of our earliest memories from childhood.

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An experiment: scent-based 'flavoured' water

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An experiment: scent-based 'flavoured' water

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Displayed on the central table of the Living Room.

To demonstrate the importance of smell in taste, this experiment will be conducted:

Using single-use mouthpieces, visitors will have the opportunity to try different scents offered by Air Up (cherry, lime, cola, iced coffee...).

Using a black opaque bottle, they will be asked to guess what they are drinking. After guessing, I will tell them it was water and explain the mechanisms behind it.

Before they leave, I will ask them to note how efficient they think this method is in tricking their brain.

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See experiment ->

The Air Up® drinking system is a refillable bottle that turns plain tap water into flavoured water through scent alone.

By adding a scent pod to your water bottle, you can trick your brain into thinking there is a taste.

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Olfactory bulb mitral cells (green) and dopaminergic neurons (magenta)

Smells like mint, light floral notes

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Hello, and welcome to this exhibition on the sense of smell: olfaction.

This project has been inspired by the work of the Grubb Lab, a research group led by Matthew Grubb at the Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King’s College London.

Their research focuses on olfactory neurons, which you will discover in this exhibition.

I hope you will enjoy it :)

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When sniffing a flower, odour molecules from it are drawn to the top of the nose as we breathe in. They then dissolve in a layer of mucus membrane known as the olfactory epithelium.

Once the odour molecules have dissolved in the mucus, they spread through it and attach to hair-like structures called cilia. The cilia are attached to receptor cells, the odour molecules then bind with these receptor cells which then generate a signal or impulse.

These signals are passed along tiny nerve fibres called axons, which pass through tiny perforations in the cribriform plate, a layer of bone in the base of the skull.  Bundles of many thousands of these axons together make up the olfactory nerve (much like the individual copper strands in an electrical cable). They converge on the edges of the olfactory bulb, a structure on the frontal lobe of the brain (there is actually one on each side of the brain, one for each nostril).

The olfactory bulb is responsible for processing the signals it receives from the receptors, and passing this information on to other parts of the brain, including the thalamus, limbic system and the orbitofrontal neocortex.

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Room 3 - Olfaction, emotions and memories

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Room 3 - Olfaction, emotions and memories

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In public discourse, the sense of smell (olfaction) is typically characterised as the least important of the five senses.

In a survey of 7,000 young people around the world, about half of those between the age of 16 and 30 said that they would rather lose their sense of smell than give up access to technology like laptops or cell phones (McCann, 2011).

Recently, much more attention has been brought to the sense of smell since olfactory dysfunction is a primary and often long-term symptom of COVID-19 infection.

The sheer number of people affected means that olfaction, for so long overlooked among our suite of senses, is finally stepping into the scientific spotlight.

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Single olfactory bulb dopaminergic neuron

Smells like mint

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Dopaminergic neuron in the olfactory bulb

Smells like lavender

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Now that you understand the importance of smell or olfaction, here is a little bit of science: what is olfaction and how does it work?

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Flavours - the importance of smell in taste

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Flavours - the importance of smell in taste

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Our sense of smell is responsible for about 80% of what we taste. Without our sense of smell, our sense of taste is limited to only five distinct sensations: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and the newly discovered “umami” or savoury sensation. All other flavours that we experience come from smell.

Fun fact (actually, sad fact): without smell, we wouldn't be able to tell the difference between vanilla and chocolate ice cream!

Our sense of taste may have only five perceivable tastes, but our sense of smell makes up for this with an ability to perceive approximately 10,000 distinctive aromas. When you chew, odourant molecules in the food make their way back retro-nasally to your nasal epithelium, which is why odour is so important to the sensation of flavour.

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Did you know that the Colosseum (Rome) is the largest smell diffusing system on the planet?
In Roman Times, an elaborate tube system in the Colosseum diffused the odour of neroli to cover other smells such as blood and sweat from fights and executions.

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Room 4 - Olfaction, emotions and behaviour

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Room 4 - Olfaction, emotions and behaviour

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This video will be projected in the small room located at the top of the stairs.

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Watch this 9-minute video to hear testimonies of what if is like living in a world without smell from people living with anosmia (absence of smell).

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This Is What It's Like to Live in a World Without Smell | Short Film Showcase

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Ground Floor, Living Room of the Science Gallery

When asked which sense they would prefer to give up, most people chose the sense of smell.
If you think the same, I hope this room will help you realise the importance of this sense and change your answer to this question.