Sense of smell and taste

New Scientist magazine (and a bunch of others) report that blindfolded students can follow their nose and track a chocolate rope through the grass. Not as good as a dog, but they improved with training. (Dogs have had their whole lives to practice.)

I seriously think that London has damaged my senses. I think that's one reason the food never really excites me here. There are tastes and scents I used to find delicious, but now I now can barely notice the flavour.

It's probably a coping technique, a dampening filter so that I don't go choke on the bad smells. There's the smoke in pubs, which sticks to your clothes. There's the exhaust fumes from underground trains which stick to the station walls and the inside of your nose. The traffic probably doesn't help either, but it's not as noticeable.

It's good to see evidence that I'll probably get it back, though — one guy found that boot camp sorted out his nose to the point where he could locate women by smell. Creepy, but reassuring.