Sensory Superpowers
How senses really work and how to create new ones
The senses are windows into the world around us. They transform the swirling ocean of information in the environment, made of energy, waves, and particles, into neural signals. Without our senses, no information would ever reach the brain, hidden away in the dark void within our skulls.
It may seem like we are limited to the senses we are born with. After all, we can’t have sensitive smell like dogs, understand echolocation like bats and dolphins, or navigate with magnetic fields like birds.
What if we could?
In the UK, there is a nurse named Joy Milne, who has a special ability. Nurse Joy is able to accurately detect and diagnose Parkinson’s disease by smell alone. She was born with hereditary hyperosmia which gives her a heightened sense of smell. When this was combined with her years of exposure to all kinds of patient scents in the hospital, she was able to smell Parkinson’s when it developed in her husband.
