Do You Smell That?

Olfactory bulbs are the area of the brain where smells are processed. So someone lacking them shouldn’t be able to smell, right? Not necessarily.

Recently, a research team studying the ability to smell was surprised to discover one left-handed woman who seemed to be able to detect scents just fine, even though she lacked an olfactory bulb. Researchers broadened their study and discovered another woman with similar ability.

The researchers then looked at public data from a thousand people who had participated in another study and found three more women without olfactory bulbs but with a normal sense of smell. (Interestingly, one of the three was also left-handed.)

It seems these women’s brains tapped into a different section to accomplish smell. But some scientists believe the olfactory bulbs in these women might simply be too small for an MRI to detect. Either way, the team concluded that the human brain is more adaptable than we had realized, moving the processing of smell to another area when the primary system is absent or diminished. (What role left-handedness plays is a subject for further study.)

Everywhere we look, we see God’s unfathomably intricate design. He even crafted the brain to compensate for problems brought about by the fall. We have only begun to understand the depths and layers of complexity that our infinite Creator put into our bodies, especially our brains.

This article was taken from Answers magazine, March–April, 2020, 23.