Cats’ sense of smell works just like highly-advanced chemical analysis tech, finds study

Previous studies have already posited that odour detection in vertebrates might work similarly to basic gas chromatography. Basically, when vertebrates smell something, they are actually inhaling vapourised substances that are carried through a tube, or their nasal system. The different components of the substance interact with this “tube” in different ways, allowing identification of the different components. This is interpreted by the brain as a smell.

Parallel coiled gas chromatography takes the efficiency of gas chromatography to the next level. The technique works just like basic chromatography but boosts it using multiple tubes branching off from one high-speed gas stream. The researchers found a similar situation with cats’ olfactory systems.

Interestingly, this parallel branch system is what makes cats’ sense of smell so efficient. If their noses had just one straight tube, it would have to be much bigger than their heads would allow for our feline friends to have a sense of smell so good.