Scientists from Ohio State University found that a cat’s nose works like a gas chromatograph, a tool that detects and separates vaporized chemicals. The cat’s nose works better, say the researchers, adding that chromatograph efficiency could be improved based on what they’ve learned about the cat’s nose function.
Cats have tightly coiled bony airway structures that separate the air into two flow streams, one that is cleansed and humidified and another that delivers the odorants quickly and efficiently to the brain’s olfactory region. The analysis took into account the speed and direction of air flowing through the bony structures inside the feline nose.
“You want odor detection to be very fast,” says Kai Zhao, associate professor of otolaryngology at Ohio State’s College of Medicine, “so there is one branch that delivers odor at high speed, potentially allowing for quick detection rather than waiting for air to filter through the respiratory zone.”
The speed at which the brain detects the odor helps cats make decisions about important things like safety and food.ν
Wu, Z., et al. “Domestic cat nose functions as a highly efficient coiled parallel gas chromatograph,”PLOS Computational Biology, 2023; 19 (6): e1011119. Science Daily.
