It is human nature to have thoughts of death in our minds, and the way we picture death is associated with a dead animal, human, bird or fly. What’s the connection between all of this, but we haven’t thought about it before? Smell.
Recent studies have shown that the human nose is capable of sensing a wide range of odors that cannot be grouped into any known categories, but still responds to them. Such as odors derived from a chemical called putrescine. It’s a chemical released by the body as it begins to decompose, and it’s important to know that the smell is the result of the necrotic behavior of animals over the years of evolution, and these responses are thought to have evolved at least 420 million years ago. before.
It is believed that animals react to the smell of putrescine as a sense of danger in two ways: a reaction that a predator is nearby, and the second, because their instincts tell them that their lives are in danger. to escape.
To confirm that human reactions and behavior are no different from those of animals, scientists conducted four different experiments on humans with a mixture of putrescine, water, and ammonia.
Vigilance
The first experiment exposed participants to the smell of putrescine and tested their alertness. The results showed that participants exposed to patrescine odor were more alert than those exposed to ammonia or water.
Escape behavior
In a second experiment, the researchers examined a group of unsuspecting people and tasked them with rating the intensity, repulsiveness, and familiarity of an odor. The researchers wanted to see how quickly the participants could walk 80 meters in response to odors. People who smelled teeth tended to move away from the area faster, suggesting that odors can provide a strong motivation to escape.
