When you were a kid and a friend asked you, “If you had to lose one of your five senses, which would you choose?” you undoubtedly chose smell. The olfactory system, which includes your nose and the areas of the brain that enable you to interpret scents, has always been a bit of an underdog. In the laboratory of Dr. Stuart Firestein, however, Columbia neuroscientist and professor, the nose becomes a window into the secret lives of neurons.
