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Published online 7 December 2006 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news061204-10
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Rogue theory of smell gets a boost
Physicists check out a bold hypothesis for how the nose works.
A controversial theory of how we smell, which claims that our fine sense of odour depends on quantum mechanics, has been given the thumbs up by a team of physicists.
Calculations by researchers at University College London (UCL) show that the idea that we smell odour molecules by sensing their molecular vibrations makes sense in terms of the physics involved1.
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