Sense of smell

High school (ages 12+)
Human Body

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/sense-of-smell

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the number of olfactory receptor genes?Humans possess approximately 400 functional olfactory receptor genes
2. What does my nose do to find smells?Your nose has tiny cells called olfactory sensory neurons that touch smell molecules. When they bind, they send signals through the olfactory nerve to the brain where the smell is identified.
3. How many different smells can humans smell?Humans have about 400 different smell receptors and can tell apart roughly one trillion different smells.

Olfactory Epithelium: The specialized tissue in the nasal cavity containing olfactory sensory neurons.
G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCRs): A large family of cell surface receptors that play a role in detecting odorants.
Piriform Cortex: The primary olfactory cortex in the brain responsible for odor identification.