Study: Smelling Sense is Similar in Humans, Insects

Locusts farmed for human consumption are seen at the Kreca breeding facility in Ermelo, the Netherlands. Reuters
Locusts farmed for human consumption are seen at the Kreca breeding facility in Ermelo, the Netherlands. Reuters
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Study: Smelling Sense is Similar in Humans, Insects

Locusts farmed for human consumption are seen at the Kreca breeding facility in Ermelo, the Netherlands. Reuters
Locusts farmed for human consumption are seen at the Kreca breeding facility in Ermelo, the Netherlands. Reuters

A research team from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) found that the process of "olfactory information" is similar in humans and insects.

By using the brain of a cotton bollworm as a model, the branching patterns and coding mechanisms the researchers detected in the small model brain seem to be relevant not only for insects, but also for mammals—which include people. The findings were published in the journal eLife on October 10.

"We find striking similarities in the structure and function of the olfactory system across different organisms. The similarities are probably related to the fact that the olfactory system is evolutionarily the oldest of all sensory systems," said Xi Chu, a researcher in Chemosensory Laboratory at NTNU and senior author on the study.

The researchers studied second-order olfactory neurons in male cotton bollworms. The males carry signals from the primary olfactory center to other areas of the brain, where the signals are further interpreted to provide the correct responses. They're strangely similar to neurons, called mitral cells, in humans and other mammals.

"When we smell something, it's because certain molecules that are dispersed in the air first activate sensory neurons in the olfactory epithelium. This is an area in the nose that captures odor molecules and carries them further into the brain's primary olfactory center. Here, the sensory terminals form a kind of map, so neurons that have the same type of olfactory receptor accumulate within spherical structures called glomeruli," Chu explained.

"Insects have a similar system of sensory olfactory neurons that form glomeruli in their antennal lobes. The similarity also applies to second-order olfactory neurons that send signals from the primary olfactory center to higher-order areas," he added.

The various odors are represented in the form of a collection of non-overlapping glomeruli in the primary olfactory center. But they are arranged in a quite different way in the subsequent second-order centers. In both insects and humans, the terminals of second-order olfactory neurons cover relatively large areas that partly overlap, he explained.



Venice Is Sinking… But Italian Engineer Suggests Plan to Lift the City

Boats sail on a canal as flags of EU, Italy and Venice fly at half-mast at the building of Veneto Regional Council to pay tribute to the late Pope Francis in Venice on April 22, 2025. (Photo by Sergei GAPON / AFP)
Boats sail on a canal as flags of EU, Italy and Venice fly at half-mast at the building of Veneto Regional Council to pay tribute to the late Pope Francis in Venice on April 22, 2025. (Photo by Sergei GAPON / AFP)
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Venice Is Sinking… But Italian Engineer Suggests Plan to Lift the City

Boats sail on a canal as flags of EU, Italy and Venice fly at half-mast at the building of Veneto Regional Council to pay tribute to the late Pope Francis in Venice on April 22, 2025. (Photo by Sergei GAPON / AFP)
Boats sail on a canal as flags of EU, Italy and Venice fly at half-mast at the building of Veneto Regional Council to pay tribute to the late Pope Francis in Venice on April 22, 2025. (Photo by Sergei GAPON / AFP)

It’s the “floating city” but also the sinking city. In the past century, Venice has subsided by around 25 centimeters, or nearly 10 inches, CNN reported.

Meanwhile, the average sea level in Venice has risen nearly a foot since 1900.

It’s a tortuous pairing that means one thing: Not just regular flooding, but an inexorable slump of this most beloved of cities into the watery depths of its famous lagoon.

For visitors, its precarious status is part of the attraction of Venice — a need to visit now before it’s too late, a symbol that humanity cannot win against the power of nature.

For Venetians, the city’s island location has for centuries provided safety against invasion, but also challenges.

Tides have got ever higher and more frequent as the climate crisis intensifies. And the city sinks around two millimeters a year due to regular subsidence.

But what if you could just... raise the city? It sounds like science fiction. In fact it’s the idea of a highly respected engineer who thinks it could be the key to saving Venice.

While the Italian government is currently spending millions of euros each year raising flood barriers to block exceptionally high tides from entering the lagoon, Pietro Teatini, associate professor in hydrology and hydraulic engineering at the nearby University of Padua, says that pumping water into the earth deep below the city would raise the seabed on which it sits, pushing Venice skyward.

By raising the level of the city by 30 centimeters (just under 12 inches), Teatini believes that he could gift Venice two or three decades — during which time the city could work out a permanent way to fight the rising tides.

“We can say we have in front of us 50 years [including the lifespan of the MOSE] to develop a new strategy,” he says, according to CNN. “We have to develop a much more drastic project.”