Caltech biologists pinpoint the origin of olfactory nerve
cells
When our noses pick up a scent, whether the aroma of a sweet
rose or the sweat of a stranger at the gym, two types of sensory neurons are at
work in sensing that odor or pheromone. These sensory neurons are particularly
interesting because they are the only neurons in our bodies that regenerate
throughout adult life—as some of our olfactory neurons die, they are soon
replaced by newborns. Just where those neurons come from in the first place has
long perplexed developmental biologists.