Luke Vorstermans

Smell Your Way to a Better Mood

You can change your mood by changing what you smell. Quick: Which of our five senses more than any other influences our behavior? Triggers our memories? Controls our cravings? Enhances our moods? Ignites our sexuality? If you replied, "It's our sense o... Read >

Unlocking the Secrets of Your Sense of Smell: Part 12

What is the future of scents in our lives? As researchers began to delve into the science behind scents, the technologic world began to seek ways to mimic the precise function in which the human nose detects different scents. In the mid 1980s the Inst... Read >

Unlocking the Secrets of Your Sense of Smell: Part 9

How Do Different Scents Affect Our Moods? Specific odour patterns are transmitted to various parts of the brain. Along with other sites, odour patterns are sent to the hypothalamus, the limbic system, and the cerebral cortex. These areas of the brain... Read >

Unlocking the Secrets of Your Sense of Smell: Part 8

The Taste Connection Though we often imagine our taste buds as the center of taste perception, the human noseâ€"not the tongueâ€"is the main organ of taste as well as smell. While our taste buds help us to distinguish between substances that are sweet... Read >

Unlocking the Secrets of Your Sense of Smell: Part 7

Can certain fragrances enhance our sexuality? Manufacturers and advertisers alike are often accused of over-exaggerating the effect that fragrances have on our sexuality, claiming that their fragrances will give its wearer the power to attract the oppo... Read >

Unlocking the Secrets of Your Sense of Smell: Part 6

The Smell Factor and Our Memory Our sense of smell is directly linked to the area of our brains that controls our memories. The slightest hint of an odour can transport us thousands of miles to some of our earliest memoriesâ€"even to those we were not a... Read >

Unlocking the Secrets of Your Sense of Smell: Part 5

According to the Sense of Smell Institute, women consistently outscore men with their sense of smell. Interestingly, however, it has found that a woman's ability to smell is dependent on the level of various hormones in her body. A woman's sense of sme... Read >

Unlocking the Secrets of Your Sense of Smell: Part 4

Did you know that no two apples smell alike? It's true. Because every scent that we perceive is composed of a specific and complex combination of molecules, the scent of every apple is unique to itself. No two apples have identical scents because no two ... Read >

Unlocking the Secrets of Your Sense of Smell: Part 3

Does your sense of smell diminish as you age? Like our eyesight, our sense of smell weakens as we age. While the jury is still out in determining just when our sense of smell peaks and begins to declineâ€"some experts say that it peaks at the age of e... Read >

Unlocking the Secrets of Your Sense of Smell: Part 2

All scent originates as a chemical. Without chemicals, our brain would not be able to perceive, or "read" a scent. All around us are currents of air which are in constant motion. These currents contain myriads of complex combinations of odours that onl... Read >

Unlocking the Secrets of Your Sense of Smell: Part 1

Who among us cannot recall the smell of freshly-baked bread at dinner, the aroma of freshly-ground coffee in the morning, the heady scent of lilacs in the spring or the mouth-watering aroma of baked apples in the fall? Interestingly, while most of us can... Read >

Unlocking the Secrets of Your Sense of Smell – Introduction to a 12 Part Series

It all started with a bolt up my nose. When I was four years old, I inadvertently put a small, metal bolt in my nose, which I could not remove. Afraid to tell my mother, the bolt became a part of me. Kids do things like that! Almost 20 years later, a... Read >