I’m aware that odors are gaseous chemical compounds that our olfactory receptors can distinguish. But are particularly vile scents potentially detrimental to your health?
Some compounds like CO are odorless, yet fatal. So what is our body really telling us when we smell something revolting and is it reliable?
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> So what is our body really telling us when we smell something revolting and is it reliable?
I think this is the most interesting question, because it answers the rest of what you asked.
Smell is a way for our brain to “taste” the environment through gasses and volatile compounds which are released from… most things. A smell attracts us, it repels us, and that tells us what a smell is for; it’s for telling us what’s around, and how we should react to it. Smells associated with toxins and diseases that were common to pre-modern humans are meant to repel us, to keep us safe. If something smells like rotting meat we probably shouldn’t handle it, eat it, or do other risky things with it. If something smells sweet and delicious the odds are good that (assuming it’s naturally occurring) it’s something we might want in our lives.
The twist is that today we run into a world of smells that are largely created by humans, not just the smells of plants, animals and nature in general. CO to use your example isn’t really something humans evolved to detect, because high concentrations in nature are rare.
One important thing to note however is that the smell itself is harmless, or rather the act of smelling is harmless. It isn’t the *smell* of something deadly that kills you, a smell alone won’t harm you unless the source of the scent is harmful in the concentration you’re exposed to.
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