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In a preprint study posted last month on bioRxiv, researchers reported using CT scans of skulls of 45 dog breeds to measure a bony structure, the cribriform plate, that is perforated by olfactory nerves.

Then, they used those models to measure the area of a bony structure in the skull known as the cribriform plate, which is perforated by olfactory nerves that shuttle scent information to the brain.

That inflammation could explain why the samples from the smell-loss group had substantially fewer olfactory nerve cells, the “key cells” for smelling, Goldstein said.

Still other researchers study how the virus attacks the olfactory nerve, which conveys smell sensations to the brain.

The practice was tacitly accepted because it could yield valuable insights — Hunter discovered the tear ducts and the olfactory nerve, among other things — but the human toll was horrifying nonetheless.