Sex Differences and Smell
Olfaction, which is the sense of smell, plays a significant role in many aspects of human life, ranging from everyday human behaviors and interpersonal communication to being a diagnostic tool for various pathologies. Ever since scientists began studying olfaction at the turn of the 20
th century, they have been interested in how the sense of smell differs between the two sexes.
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The importance of smell
Between 1997 and 2017, the publication of scientific studies on the olfactory system has increased by more than three-fold. This rapid growth rate is largely due to three different discoveries about the significance of the olfactory system, the first of which is the identification of olfactory nervous systems to exist throughout the central nervous system (CNS).