The Shape of Scents
April 13, 2024 6:32 AM Subscribe
On mapping olfaction, neuroscientist Jason Castro writes:
Our noses may turn out to be geometers not of the world’s fixed and invariant properties, but of its evolved and Earthly processes.
This is a really nice essay. I learned a little about olfaction as a neurobiologist, but it's definitely the sense I know the least about. Partly because it is so dang complicated.
In terms of evolution and comparative neuroanatomy, it's interesting to note that the entire forebrain may be linked to the evolution and development of the olfactory system. This is true across not only vertebrates but also insects, with the same genetic machinery governing the development of the neuroanatomical homologues in the two taxa. One possible interpretation is that it was the computational demands of learning the ecological geometry of olfaction, as described in this essay, which sparked the evolution of the neural systems that are responsible for complex behavior in our early, ur-bilaterian ancestors.
Odoror, ergo cogito?
posted by biogeo at 11:46 AM on April 13 [8 favorites]
In terms of evolution and comparative neuroanatomy, it's interesting to note that the entire forebrain may be linked to the evolution and development of the olfactory system. This is true across not only vertebrates but also insects, with the same genetic machinery governing the development of the neuroanatomical homologues in the two taxa. One possible interpretation is that it was the computational demands of learning the ecological geometry of olfaction, as described in this essay, which sparked the evolution of the neural systems that are responsible for complex behavior in our early, ur-bilaterian ancestors.
Odoror, ergo cogito?
posted by biogeo at 11:46 AM on April 13 [8 favorites]
biogeo, it is SO COOL to hear that olfaction may be the driver of forebrain neuroanatomy across both bony and un-bony friends!
I immediately wonder about olfaction and the evolutionary history of chemosensitivity even more broadly - early life in shallow seas, literally drifting through swells of increasing or decreasing concentration of dissolved minerals and gases, chemical waste products from self and/or other wee beasties… phenotypes affording chemical sensitivity would have been fuel for selection since day one. Driving - motility, selective diets, internal or external chemical defenses? Fwooooo. So much fun to think about!
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 12:56 PM on April 13 [2 favorites]
I immediately wonder about olfaction and the evolutionary history of chemosensitivity even more broadly - early life in shallow seas, literally drifting through swells of increasing or decreasing concentration of dissolved minerals and gases, chemical waste products from self and/or other wee beasties… phenotypes affording chemical sensitivity would have been fuel for selection since day one. Driving - motility, selective diets, internal or external chemical defenses? Fwooooo. So much fun to think about!
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 12:56 PM on April 13 [2 favorites]
« Older The Black Sun of Democracy | Wagon breaks down Newer »
The notion of 'metabolic distance', the idea that two substances or classes of substances would tend to have a similar smell if one could be transformed into the other by simple metabolic processes would be enough to justify the effort of reading it, but there's much more than that.
posted by jamjam at 11:17 AM on April 13 [4 favorites]