|| candle business overview || free wax scent samples || candle safety tips || free homeschool activities || spiritual articles || tasty weight loss || business articles || free recipes ||  "Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived."   Helen Keller   SEE how your brain "reads" scents:                http://www.bbc.net.uk/science/humanbody/body/factfiles/smell/smell_animation.shtml A COMPLETE TUTORIAL ON THE SENSE OF SMELL: http://www.cf.ac.uk/biosi/staff/jacob/teaching/sensory/olfact1.html

Did you know that some scents can "wake up your mind" and some will help you sleep better?  One (lavender) has even been shown to make the part of your brain that processes math computations work more efficiently!  Visit my specialty page on Scent & Aromatherapy to learn more about the effects of scent on mood, emotional states and outlook. How does it work? The human sense of smell is more complex than you might think. Your nose contains thousands of olfactory nerves.  While your tongue has the ability to taste sweet, sour, salt, and bitter, it is your sense of smell that creates all the delightful flavors you experience.

The olfactory bulb is part of your brain's limbic system, which is not under conscious control. The limbic system controls digestion, libido (how you respond to the other sex), and emotions. So, it's not your imagination -- or Helen Keller's -- that scents evoke emotion. Aromas actually trigger the release of chemicals in the brain that create a feeling of well-being. Scientists say your body's response to an aroma takes only four seconds.

Try this experiment:  Hold your nose and have someone else open a chocolate bar and hand you a piece to eat.  Be sure you are holding your nose tightly closed before the other person unwraps the chocolate bar. Take the bit of chocolate in your mouth, chew it well (at least 10 times), then swallow.  Still holding your nose, describe how the chocolate tastes to your experiment partner.   Click here to find out how most people describe the plain taste of chocolate if they cannot smell it.

"What's that Smell?  The Science Behind Adolescent Odors" Do you have pre-adolescents or teens anywhere in your vicinity?  Then, you will definitely want to get this book for them!  They will be intrigued by what they learn.  There's also a curriculum guide should you need one on the subject.

Understanding Your Senses is from the Usborne "Science for Beginners" series.  This book is a great overview of all the senses, including smell, and is in that informative, fact-filled format that is typical Usborne.  Fascinating information shows how babies' senses develop, and the highly developed senses of animals, a great unit-study building block for the younger set.

Here's a really fascinating article done by scientists from the UK about the sense of smell and culture. You've probably heard of the Eskimo custom of rubbing noses and (if you have a big nose as I do) heard disparaging remarks re noses from time to time.  Find out why noses get such attention. You'll also find other resources at this same site for such things as sex difference, emotions and the human sense of smell compared to some animals'.

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