How We Recognize—And Like—Our Own Odor

Image courtesy of nenetus / shutterstock You may not enjoy the smell of your dirty laundry, but your brain knows and appreciates that it's yours. A new study reveals a key way we detect our own scent and distinguish that scent from others'. Smell is a powerful thing. Many species use it to communicate (think dogs sniffing their introductions) or attract mates (the Stickleback fish is a good example of this one). Humans may not be as overtly smell-dependent, but our brains actually use this sense more than you might think. Communication by smell comes down to a thing called the major histocompatibility complex, or MHC. Every creature with a backbone has MHC molecules on the surface of its cells. These molecules act like bouncers, carefully controlling the balance of proteins inside the cell. When new proteins come a-knocking, the MHC checks their IDs to determine if they are okay ...