#olfaction

#olfaction

In late November, the Finnish destination revealed its survey, which found that 73 percent of respondents said they love the feeling of "breathing in crisp winter air," and 74 percent said that " time spent outdoors in winter boosts their mental wellbeing." It also noted that two-thirds (63 percent) said that "winter air smells fresher and cleaner than any other season." And, as Santa's Lapland found, there's actual science to back up that belief.

Kitchens, even very clean ones, smell like food, and this is a neon welcome sign to a rodent's nose. These creatures don't rely on their eyesight the way humans do. Smell is their dominant sense, and they use it to follow scent signals that mark a rat-safe route or a promising meal. A mouse has over 1,000 odor receptors (whereas people have a measly 350) finely tuned to trace the semiotics of a kitchen, like starches, fats, and other rodents' chemical signatures.

The pong might have you covering your nose, or reaching for the closest can of deodorant. But if you can bear to sniff it, scientists say the exact aroma can actually divulge a lot about someone. From the unmistakable pong of elevated stress levels, to the stale beer aroma of a tuberculosis infection, your body odour can reveal key clues to your health. And for some 'super-smellers', even complex diseases like early-onset Parkinson's can be detected with a simple sniff.