Growing up, Julian Meeks knew what a life without a sense of smell could look like. He'd watched this grandfather navigate the condition, known as anosmia, observing that he didn't perceive flavor and only enjoyed eating very salty or meaty foods.
The experience influenced him, in part, to study chemosensation, which involves both smell and taste. Meeks, now a professor of neuroscience at the University of Rochester, told Undark that neither gets much attention compared to other senses: "Often, they're thought of as second or third in order of importance."
