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Perfumers can learn to distinguish individual odors in a fragrance made of hundreds of scents.
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Tea experts have been known to sniff out not just the location where a tea was from,
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but the season of harvest and whether it was planted by a plum tree.
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And the New York City Transit Authority
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once had an employee responsible only for sniffing out gas leaks in the subway system.
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Can just anyone learn to smell with the sensitivity of those experts?
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For most of us, what we smell is largely involuntary,
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whether it's garbage behind a restaurant,
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the shampoo of the woman leaving an elevator as you enter,
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or a bakery's fresh-made bread.
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With a few million olfactory receptors in our noses,
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we clearly don't lack the ability to smell well.
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We just might not always pay close enough attention.
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That's a shame because we may be missing opportunities to make strong emotional connections.
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Smells are powerfully linked to emotions
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and can awaken memories of places we've long ago left and people we've loved.
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But fortunately, it is possible to train our brains to smell better.
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For example, Helen Keller was able to recognize a person's work,
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and in her words,
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distinguish the carpenter from the iron worker, the artist from the mason or the chemist, by a simple inhale.
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Follow these steps and you too can change the way the world smells to you.
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First, stick your nose in it.
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Some animals that are known to be great smellers,
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like dogs who can sniff out explosives
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and pigs who can find truffles underground,
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put their noses right at the place they want to smell.
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Human noses, meanwhile, are casting around in the middle of the air,
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giving us an anatomical disadvantage.
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So bring your nose close to the world around you.
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The ground,
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surfaces,
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objects,
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the food in your hand.
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Get close to your dog,
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your partner,
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the book you're reading.
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Not only will your nose be closer to the odor source,
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but the warmth of your breath will make odors easier to smell.
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Second, sniff like you mean it.
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Smelling actually happens way up near the bridge of our noses
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in a postage stamp-sized square of tissue called the olfactory epithelium.
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When we sniff, odor molecules are sucked up into our nostrils
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until they hit this tissue
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where they combine to our olfactory, or scent, receptors.
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When we inhale normally, only a little air makes it there.
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But one or two solid sharp sniffs
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will ensure that more air gets to your smell receptors.
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After just a few more sniffs,
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the receptors, which are best at noticing new smells,
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turn off temporarily.
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So you can give your nose a rest and sniff again later.
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Finally, dwell on the smell.
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Most smells pass by us with little attention,
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but simply noticing what you're smelling
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and by trying to describe it, name it, and locate its source,
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you can expand your vocabulary of smells.
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When an odor molecule binds to a scent receptor,
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it sends an electrical signal from the sensory neurons
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to our brain's olfactory bulbs.
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The signal then continues to other areas of the brain,
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where it's integrated with taste,
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memory,
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or emotional information
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before registering to us as a smell.
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FMRI (Functional magnetic resonance imaging) research shows that
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the extra time spent focusing on scent changes the brain of experienced smellers.
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For them, perceiving and imagining odors becomes more automatic than for non-experts.
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To get started yourself, take ingredients from your kitchen:
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spices,
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vanilla,
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or fruit,
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but never anything toxic.
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Close your eyes and have someone bring them under your nose.
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Sniff and try to name the source.
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Over time, you'll begin to appreciate nuances in familiar odors
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and recognize characteristics of new and unusual smells.
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The perfumer has practiced these steps enough to become an artist of odor,
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but even if you never pursue smelling to that degree,
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the spectacular result of an unspectacular action
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will change how you sense and experience your days.