[gwerbret]

This is entirely incorrect. The nose has a surface called an olfactory epithelium, in which are buried the actual sensory apparatus. Olfactory receptor neurons in here respond to the odors themselves, and transmit the information to the olfactory bulb. The olfactory receptor neurons are essentially analogous to related structures for the other senses, such as sight (rods and cones) and hearing (hair cells).

[jerf]

I know progress has been made decoding the nerve impulses directly for vision and sound, to the point that we can engineer machines that generate the impulses (pretty much the hardest test there is), with Cochlear implants being standard, off-the-shelf medical tech now [1]. The eye equivalents are harder, but prototypes are being built. (I don't think they're off-the-shelf tech yet, though.)

I have not heard anything similar about the olfactory nerves. I suspect they're going to prove to be much messier. Perhaps not necessarily "complicated" in some sense, but messier. But it shouldn't be impossible.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlear_implant

[lostlogin]

It’s intersting how the sense can get damaged too. Imaging for the problem (anosmia) can be very interesting. https://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/loss-of-smell/basics/cau...

[intrasight]

I stand corrected. I shouldn't rely on 30 year old memories. This is interesting "There are approximately 1000 different genes that code for the ORs, making them the largest gene family." - wikipedia