Can you tell the smell of a rose from the scent of a lilac? If so, you have your brain’s piriform cortex to thank. Compared to many parts of the brain, the piriform cortex—which lets animals and ...

The image shows a section of the front part of the piriform cortex, an area of the brain involved in the sense of smell. The cortex layers are stained with florescent antibodies to better distinguish ...

Scents are not only processed by the olfactory center, but also by the brain’s reward and aversion systems, explaining how scents can take on meaning. “We already knew that there is a connection ...

Neuroscientists describe for the first time how relationships between different odors are encoded in the brain. The findings suggest a mechanism that may explain why individuals have common but highly ...

Michael Schmuker receives funding from NSF/CIHR/DFG/FRQ/UKRI-MRC as a member of the Next Generation Networks for Neuroscience Program (NeuroNex), within the ...

This story is part of a larger mosaic of stories on Post-Acute Sequelae of Covid-19 (PASC), also known as Long Covid. Read part one and two of this series. Comparing brain volume before and after ...