Olfaction
Ever heard the word 'olfaction'? I only heard this today, and that's why I (and you too) are not the next Nobel Price laurates in field of Medicine or Physiology :-p.
-- quote --
Our ability to smell, known as 'olfaction', is a potent yet often neglected player in our sensory world, and a surprising 3% of our genes are dedicated to fine-tuning its subtleties.
...
But, as the pair went on to show, any receptor can be activated by a handful of related scent molecules at different intensities. And most odours are composed of many molecules, which activate different receptor-bearing cells. The researchers revealed a combinatorial code, often likened to the colours on a patchwork quilt, that allows us to recognize, and form memories of, around 10,000 different odours.
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Hmm... so this is why I could still remember mom's 'yellow soup' or 'ayam kecap' .. nyam .. nyam ... :-D
This is the link to the official
Press Release: The 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
