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the science of it all: the nose knows by jenniferxu
Wednesday, April 10, 207// The StatementB
"What would you tell someone starting their time
at the University to do that you didn't do?"
with University Provost Phil Hanlon
and CSG President Manish Parikh
I once had an MCAT te
who was unable to smell any
for an entire year. After und
ing a bad eating experience
Indian restaurant, he woke
discover that his sense of
had vanished. He spent the
part of a year with an
effectively plugged-up
nose, eating all kinds of
foods indiscriminately
with little enjoyment.
Though he was never
officially diagnosed, my
teacher might have been
suffering from some-
thing called olfactory
fatigue. Characterized
by an inability to dis-
tinguish odors from one
another after prolonged
exposure to a particu-
larly strong-smelling
agent, olfactory fatigue
generally arises in indi-
viduals who spend large
amounts of time around
alcohol or spicy foods. Olfa
fatigue is categorized as a t
sensory adaptation, in whic
body desensitizes itself to
ing stimuli so as to make roo
new stimuli, thereby preve
our nervous systems from
overloaded.
The nose is a funny little c
Debatably the most useles
least developed of our five se
smell in the modern age ha
acted like an extra append,
acher and we don't really know what exh
'thing it's for. Scientific literature has tory
lergo- imbued the olfactory bulb with If
at an some pretty mystical functions. olfa
up to . Smell acts as sort of a first warn- the
smell ing against invaders. It's been omn
good suggested to warm up the diges- coff
wine, tion process and help us metabo- cos
actory lize our food more efficiently. betv
ype of Smell is even intimately connect- bint
h the ed to memory. Like Proust's whiff tors
exist- of the madeleine, smell can return per
)m for us to our childhoods, evoking M
nting wonderfully nostalgic memories rega
being of times past. may
You can "train" your nose to prof
organ. smell better too, according to as o
s and experts. Director of the Interna- Con
enses, tional Flavors & Fragrances's New
s long York perfumery school Ron Win-
age - negrad suggests keeping small
jars of ingredients such as vanilla,
cloves, celery and pencil shavings
around the house and smelling
the collection for about half an
hour a day. But there's a special
technique you have to procure in
order to become a true olfactory
connoisseur. Rather than take
one deep sniff, Winnegrad rec-
ommends that smellers take two
or three short whiffs and then
ale in order to prevent olfac-
'fatigue from kicking in.
f you're already a victim to
ctory fatigue, researchers at
University of Oklahoma rec-
mend that one should smell
ee beans in order to re-jolt
their sense of smell back
into shape. The study
hypothesizes that this is
because one of the 28 odor-'
ants contained in a cof-
fee molecule can detach
the original food odorants
responsible for olfactory
fatigue from their recep-
tors. In a sense, the coffee
scent will "refresh" the
receptors in an individual's
nose to make way for new
scent stimulants.
That's the reason why
perfume counters usually
have a jar of coffee beans
next to the scent samples
- the coffee beans allow
tomers to better distinguish
ween scents by competitively
ding to their olfactory recep-
and kicking out the original
fume odorants.
dy MCAT teacher eventually
ained his sense of smell, but
ybe the answer to his olfactory
blem could've been as simple
rdering an espresso shot from
aet Coffee.
University Provost Phil Hanlon
- who has been a University
faculty member since 1986 - and
Manish Parikh, Business senior
and current Central Student
Government president, met in the
Daily's newsroom to look back
on their time at the University.
Parikh graduates in the spring,
and Hanlon will leave to serve as
president ofDartmouth College.
Hanlon and Parikh discussed the
following question: What would
you tell someone starting their
time at the University to do that
you didn't do?
Phil Hanlon: It took me too long
to discover the University. I spentr
too many years deep in the math
department just doing stuff with
the math faculty, math students,
math seminars and I didn't come
to appreciate what a fantastic
University this is and how many
cool things there are all around
the University ... I think what I
would tell someone is get out of
your department. Go explore the
University, go to the Clements
(Library), look at what's there -
they have amazing stuff at the
Clements - they have stuff like the
letter that launched the American
Revolution. Did you know that was
there? The letter from General
Gage to his troops in Boston telling
them to march on Lexington
and Concord, that letter's in the
Clements.
Manish Parikh: Wow. I have
to agree with the provost on this
one. One thing that I would tell
incoming students is, "You know
the burning questions that you
have, Google them." There're so
many times that I have asked my
roommates and friends at college
silly questions which I could
probably find the answer out to
in a few seconds online. There
are buildings on campus that
I've always admired but never
found the time to peek inside.
The Complex Systems Building,
which kind of overlooks the arch
a little beyond the Diag, is an
example of gone of the beautiful.
buildings on campus.
PH: So what about for students
when they come in. What do you
think is the thing that they fail to
do the most often?
MP: Well this may be contrary
to academics, but I would say
that while your GPA. and your
professional goals and your resume
are important, the things that
I've found most meaningful at.
Michigan and at life are being kind
and being happy, making good
friends and being compassionate.
Academics and 4.0 are important,
but so is being kind and happy and
compassionate.
PH: Yeah, one thing that I
think is the biggest change in the
students I've taught since I've been
here is (the) incredible interest in
students today to impact the world
in a positive way. It's different. It's
certainly different from when I
was a student. We weren't thinking
about that so much. We were
looking to the college and our
studies. Boy, today I just so admire
students. .., they're, out. working
in Detroit, they're out running I'm more wide
around the globe, they're starting near graduating
companies, they're doing all sorts
of stuff that's trying to better the MP: Mhmm..
world and I think that's a huge
-awake. So you're
right?
PH: Well I think, one thing you
have to say that jumps right out at
you is that the last decade has been
a decade where the University
has seen its most severe financial
challenges since the Great
Depression, and I think the thing
that I really am proud of - and it's
certainly not just me, but the whole
institution - is that we've actually
grown stronger during this period
I think we're at a better place than
we were 10 years ago. We were one
of the very few universities in the
country that didn't have severe
disruption in 2009, and I think I
can credit the careful planning
we did but also the hard work
everyone did on campus to execute
the plan. I think that's one of the
things I'm very pleased about. I
do think that we're very strong
academically right now. We're on
an upward trajectory. I have r
hesitation in sayingwe are the best
public university in the country
right now, and I'm very excited
about the future here.
MP: And speaking about finance
and money, a small piece of advice
that- I would give to incoming
students here is that it's very easy
to lose track of how much money
(you) have in your bank, and it's
very easy to spend a lot of money
at Zingerman's. Another piece n
advice I'd give is keep a noteboolk
and be acutely reminded of
finances and that kind of thing.
PH: I can understand that. I
think one of the worst moments
of my life was when I was a
student and I was hitchhiking
in New Zealand and I ran out of
money. I just literally ran out of
money and back then there was
no way to get hold of my parents
or something like that. There was
just no way to communicate. So I
was in Wellington and I had to get
to Auckland the next day to catch
the plane, and so I threw myself at
the mercy of the bus company and
they let me ride in the freight bus
to go overnight in the back with,
the boxes. But I got there. Very
entreprenepgial, ,
change for the good. L
MP: Another small piece of
advice - provost, I think at the
faculty level it's far different too
because you're used to waking
up on time - but something I
struggled with as a freshman was
finding a good alarm clock. It really
did take a while. Waking up on
time and attending class on time is
really important, and I think half
the challenge at Michigan is just
showing up.
PH: Yeah, I've always taught
early in the morning -8:30 classes,
8:30 calculus class, office hours at
8:00. Students get there, they're
kind of awake.
MP: Have you ever struggled to
wake up for classes back when you
were a student?
PH: Oh yeah, I do remember
that I was sleepier back then. Now
PH: So what do you think is the
most important thing you're taking
away from Michigan?
MP: I think for me as a junior,
I felt really frustrated with myself
that I wasn't doing anything
much or accomplishing anything
at Michigan and that I would
graduate in ayear and I would have
made a few good friends, taken a
few good classes, but that couldn't
have been what this Michigan
experience was all about. I've
really enjoyed this role in CSG
making a small difference, leaving
a small mark. I think that's pretty
exciting for me.
MP: In your time here at
Michigan, what would say are
yours and President Coleman's
biggest accomplishments? How
has Michigan really evolved over
the last five, six, ten years?