About This Video

Take a deep breath. What do you smell? At that moment, millions of molecules are rushing into your nose and caressing the nerve endings of your brain’s olfactory bulb. But how does your brain know what smell to assign each molecule? How many smells can the brain handle? Smell researcher and neuroscientist Leslie Vosshall explains how molecules drifting through the air become the aromatic world around us. Okay, now exhale.
More videos from this series: Scents and Sensibilities

Image courtesy of Talking PlantRecorded June 2011; Posted August 2011