SC - MENU FOR MEDIEVAL CHRISTMAS DINNER - hmmmm!

[Lee-Gwen]

- --- Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com> wrote: > Olwen
> Everybody produces
> the chemical,
> including those that can't smell it. It's not about
> the urine, it's
> about the individual's olfactory nerve bundles, or
> some such. Bear in
> mind I'm not speaking as a doctor or anything, just
> a reader of a book
> on food science that makes this assertion. On the
> other hand, there are
> several sources for this information. 
> 
> Similar genetic irregularities would include, say,
> the ability to roll
> one's tongue into a tube, which has nothing to do
> with skill; either you
> can do it or you can't, or whether or not you're
> blind to certain colors.

Adamantius
I have to say that I am rather amused by this whole
thread.  In fact somepeople could have genes that
result in the senses developing in slightly different
ways, such as people having different tonal ranges
that they can hear.  But to be honest we really do not
yet understand where the contribution of a given gene
or genes leaves off and the environmental influences
start.  The ability to smell a certain chemical, if
purely a genetic trait, is probably not the result of
a single gene but a contribution of all the genes that
are involved in the development and control of not
only all nasal structures but also of the centres in
the brain responsible for receiving and interpreting
that data.  So in answer to the original question yes
the ability to smell asparagus in your urine may be a
genetic tendency but its probably a combination of a
whole host of factors.  Alot of people make the
assertions that a given trait is genetic (for example
tendencies towards criminality) without even looking
at whether this is possible genetically or whether it
is a response to an individiuals environment, inluding
their upbringing.



=====
Elizabeth

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