According to recent studies, more than 86% of people affected by the Covid-19 pandemic suffer from an impaired sense of smell. The majority of these people experience anosmia at one time or another, or in other words, deprivation of their olfactory experiences, a real sensorial challenge that alters daily life.
Smell is the result of a nasal encounter between the odorous molecules that are carried in the wind and the ten million or so olfactory receptors that make up our olfactory system. These cilia of these cells, called neurons, can detect up to 10,000 different odours at extremely low concentrations.
In the brain, the olfactory bulb receives nerve signals from the olfactory nerve, acting as a relay and "sorting centre" for messages before they reach the olfactory cortex. There, they are identified and associated with emotions, which explains why a scent has such a strong emotional impact on our lives.