Perceiving the smell of lemon, geranium or eucalyptus: A study on the electrical signals behind human olfaction

What happens in our nose when neurons come in contact with a smell? As the recent COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated, from a medical and scientific point of view our sense of smell is as important as it is little known. Now, for the first time, a SISSA study led by Professor Anna Menini has been able to measure the electrical signals produced by cells in the human olfactory epithelium obtained from nasal biopsies.