Human nose 'can smell danger'

The human nose has evolved to sniff out the smell of danger, according to research published today.The researchers also suggested people with less ability to distinguish between important and irrelevant signals may be more likely to suffer from illnesses characterised by anxiety and vigilance such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
            Lead study author Dr Wen Li, of the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, in Chicago, said: "It's evolutionary."
This helps us to have a very sensitive ability to detect something that is important to our survival from an ocean of environmental information. It warns us that it's dangerous and we have to pay attention to it.

Human nose 'can smell danger'

The human nose has evolved to sniff out the smell of danger, according to research published today.The researchers also suggested people with less ability to distinguish between important and irrelevant signals may be more likely to suffer from illnesses characterised by anxiety and vigilance such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
            Lead study author Dr Wen Li, of the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, in Chicago, said: "It's evolutionary."
This helps us to have a very sensitive ability to detect something that is important to our survival from an ocean of environmental information. It warns us that it's dangerous and we have to pay attention to it.