When Life Becomes Scentless

Inspired by the new movie "Perfume," the BBC pokes around in the world of people who have lost their sense of smell.

According to the story,researchers think a surprising two percent of people have lost their olfactory sense:

The causes range from severe head injuries, to virusesand nasal congestion conditions, to degenerative diseases includingAlzheimer's and Parkinson's. Some suffer from anosmia, which means nosense of smell; hyposmia is a decreased ability; and dysosmia is whenthings smell differently than they should.

There's a touching note at the end of the story about a man who lost his sense of smell but regains it, if for only a few hours, on occasion:

And what does he use his re-discovered sense to smell in that time? "Ah," he says wistfully, "I just smell the world."

Sense and scent ability [blogger note: good Lord, is that a bad pun] [BBC]