While humans feature a sophisticated sense of smell, insects have a much more basic olfactory system. Yet they depend upon smell to survive. Scientists have figured out how fruit flies use a simple but efficient system to recognize odors, and the answer lies at the edges of their antennae.
Tag: Olfactory
Good smells, bad smells: It’s all in the insect brain
Everyone has scents that naturally appeal to them, such as vanilla or coffee, and scents that don’t appeal. What makes some smells appealing and others not? Researchers studied the behavior of the locusts and how the neurons in their brains responded to appealing and unappealing odors to learn more about how the brain encodes for preferences and how it learns.
Olfactory virtual realities show promise for mental health practices and integrative care
Study shows that scent-enhanced virtual reality technologies, or OVR, can be a safe and effective integrative approach to target anxiety, stress, and pain when combined with standard inpatient psychiatric care.