Thought for the Day by Mark Poncy

In my novel, “Revelation”, we follow the embryo (later identified as the heroine) as she develops in utero through a series of Chapter introductions. Here is the presentation on the sense of smell:

Yet another means of detecting the external environment is developing within the tiny creature; once again the organ designed to sense the outside world will occupy a conspicuous position atop the head, where it may conduct its surveillance unfettered by the accoutrements of living, relaying information quickly to the proximate brain. Ingeniously, the sampling will occur with each respiration, as thousands of olfactory cells begin to invest the lining of what may already be identified as tiny nasal passages.

As the physical universe proceeds to disorganization in conformance with the laws of thermodynamics, its organic inhabitants share a similar fate. The preservation of life is a constant struggle against the iron will of the environment, the propensity of nature to reclaim that which the individual has so energetically taken onto its own. It is a struggle in which nature is always the victor – in her infinite wisdom she processes the detritus of death into the materials of future life.

In consequence of this continual dis-integration, a molecular potpourri of airborne debris is carried across the landscape by the eccentricities of wind and the regularity of thermal gradients. Like crumbs spilled from the cookie jar, they signal the presence of all living things, a presence now detected by an olfactory system so sensitive that just one such molecule out of millions of nondescript fellow travelers will betray its existence. From the terrifying stench of the predator to the comforting wisp of the nursing mother, the aromatic profile of the world is brought under scrutiny some thousand times hourly as the organism recycles its internal atmosphere.

This airborne detection system is so rife with possibilities for communication that entire spectra of species have developed methods of spewing molecular traces to signal specific information. This incoming data will be processed and interpreted by the oldest part of the brain, where an ancient repository of olfactory meaning resides. From the urgent pheromone of fertility to the lingering stagnation of impending death, both welcoming and warning are extended across the landscape, breaching the distances of time and space.