On the Scent

- Blurb -

even notice. So when we lose it, our lives are transformed: the way we eat, our relationships with others, the way we perceive the world. And yet it' s long been the most neglected of our senses, our knowledge of how it works remarkably limited. But in 2020 that all changed. As the world ground suddenly to a halt, it started to become clear that anosmia - the inability to smell - was a key symptom of Covid. The number of sufferers exploded and olfactory researchers, suddenly thrust into the spotlight, found themselves with more attention, subjects and funding than had ever happened before. Presented with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, they were able at last to start unlocking the mysteries of our ' Cinderella' sense. Award-winning reporter Paola Totaro was among those sufferers in early March 2020. Horrified by the sensory vacuum in which she found herself trapped, she became determined to find out more about anosmia, reaching out to patients and scientists around the world. A fascinating and entertaining scientific detective story, The Fifth Sense will take you on a trail of discovery. It will transform your understanding of this incredibly important sense and, most importantly, what happens when we lose it.