14 DAY TRIAL // Several previous investigations showed that women are way more gifted than men when it comes to detecting and identifying various scents and odors.
For quite a while, researchers were unable to tell whether this is because of biological causes or if maybe social and cognitive differences are at play.
Now, researchers in Brazil claim to have finally solved this mystery. Long story short, they say that, according to evidence at hand, women outperform men when it comes to making heads or Tails of scents and odors because of the distinct makeup of their brain.
How the brain influences a person's sense of smell
As part of their investigation into why women have a higher olfactory sensitivity than men do, the researchers closely examined the brains of 7 men and 11 women. The brains all belonged to people over the age of 55 and were studied post-mortem.
In a recent paper in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, the scientists who conducted this research project detail that the brain region they focused on is known as the olfactory bulb. Its job is to receive and process information obtained via the nostrils.
It was discovered that the olfactory bulbs belonging to the deceased women were quite different to those of the men. Thus, the female olfactory bulbs had a distinct anatomy and were considerably more complex, Science Daily informs.
More precisely, they packed an average 43% more cells than their male counterparts did. When counting just the neurons found in this brain region, the scientists found that the olfactory bulbs in the women's brains have 50% more such cells.
In light of these findings, the researchers argue that, even if social and cognitive variables might also have a say in the matter, the truth is that, all things considered, it's biological particularities that women have to thank for their olfactory superiority.
“Larger brains with larger numbers of neurons correlate with the functional complexity provided by these brains. Thus, it makes sense to think that more neurons in the female olfactory bulbs would provide women with higher olfactory sensitivity,” said Professor Roberto Lent.
More questions raised than answered
Seeing how the human brain is not all that fond of adding new cells throughout a person's life, it's safe to assume that women are born with highly complex olfactory bulbs. Otherwise put, their olfactory superiority is not acquired, but innate.
The thing is that, for the time being at least, scientists are pretty much clueless about why it is that women have evolved to be more gifted than men are at detecting and identifying scents and odors. Since nothing happens in nature without a reason, chances are that this enhanced sense of smell is not just for show, but instead serves some higher purpose.
It is to be expected that further investigations will be carried out. Here's hoping that scientists will eventually figure out why women are born with an olfactory bulb more complex than that of men.