Olfaction is our swiftest sense. Unlike new information detected by the eyes and ears, which is absorbed by the thalamus, a structure inside the brain, then relayed to the organ’s interpretive regions, smells zoom along dedicated pathways directly into the brain’s olfactory cortex for immediate decoding. That area of the brain also contains the limbic system and the amygdala, where emotions are made and memories of them are stored—which is why scents, feelings, and memory are closely intertwined.