Blogs / Discoblog

The last time you were in an airport, did you feel your heart rate jump at the sight of vigilant German Shepherds sniffing your bags? While your suitcase may have been entirely contraband-free, the idea that smells, often uncontrollable and undetectable to the human nose, can reveal secrets about you is enough to make even a seasoned traveler nervous.

Use of odor detection by law enforcement is on the rise, as defense attorney and surveillance expert Amber Marks writes in the Guardian. For police forces worldwide, smells are being increasingly relied on to detect drugs, weapons, and stolen goods. A smell alone, in the U.K. at least, can even be considered sufficient evidence to convict someone of a crime. Meanwhile, the technology of smell detection is rushing to meet tightened security needs: canine trainers are teaching dogs to sniff out emotions such as guilt and fear, while electronic noses can now be programmed to identify the “odor signature” of different races or ethnic groups. (more…)

Defining intelligence is highly problematic. Was Einstein smarter than Mozart? Are either smarter than Shakespeare? What about Gandhi and Buddha? Intelligence is a broad and complex entity—and nearly impossible for neuroscientists to study. We do know that there’s an area in the very front of the brain—the prefrontal cortex (PFC)—that’s important for the qualities most people associate with intelligence. The PFC is important for logic, rational thought, abstract thinking, concentration, planning, and impulse control—the latter colorfully demonstrated when a three-foot iron pole blasted through a man’s forehead in 1848, sparing his life but leaving him rude and irritable. But as important as the PFC is for intelligent human behavior, there may be one process that doesn’t really need it—creativity.

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