Julia Dufosse for BI
Smell is perhaps the most powerful human sense. Think about the scent of fresh lavender or an evergreen forest; these might bring you peace or remind you of something unpleasant. Either way, you don't have control over how they affect you.
The connection between smell and emotion has intrigued scientists for decades. Every person experiences scents and feelings differently which raises the question, why do we react a certain way to scents?
In her book "The Scent of Desire," Rachel Herz, a neuroscientist, theorized that smell was the first sense to form in organisms' brains to guide them away from danger. This cognitive development is now known as the amygdala, a part of the brain that interacts with our olfactory receptors to help detect peril and induce fear.