Everyone’s had that thought of being able to go back in time to relive moments in time that they might have already lived through and missed. Pair this with pop culture’s obsession with time travel that has been rehashed time and time again means that it’s only natural that we’ll always be thinking about traveling back in time and what we’d do if it’s actually possible.
The laws of physics aside, traveling back in time is already possible, though it’s not exactly the way you think or want it to be. You see, you don’t exactly have to be a time traveler to be an actual time traveler. Confused? Let me explain. You see, when you think of time travel, there’s no doubt that the image that’ll pop up in your head is one of a rather large contraption with a control panel that allows you to select not only the time that you want to travel to but also the place that you’d like to go to. But it’s not the case. You see, humans already have a time travel device, or should I say an organ. With this organ, everyone on earth is actually able to re-live past moments, though it might just be little snippets, it’s always better than only re-living the past in your daydreams every now and then. In any case, this organ is called the olfactory system, or as it’s more commonly known as your sense of smell.
The olfactory system is one of the most developed senses in the human body, allowing our ancestors to survive by avoiding things that smell bad. This is because back in the time of our ancestors, things that smell bad would normally suggest that it’s not a good idea for them to consume the thing that smells bad as it might potentially contain harmful pathogens that would impact their ability to survive. Now, let’s jump back into the present day and every single human being still has that very well-developed sense of smell. This is why scents can remind you of a certain moment in the past.
You’ve probably experienced this at some point in your life where smelling something takes you back to a certain moment in time, be it a certain perfume, a certain smell that your food excretes, or maybe just something in the air, scents can be used to take you back in time, like a time machine, but better since it’s real. Let me explain. Everyone’s had that moment in their lives when they experience a certain smell, they’ll immediately be reminded of a certain moment in time. This phenomenon happens because, as stated before, our olfactory systems are so developed that it’s able to access the amygdala, the region of the brain that is responsible for emotional memories. The memories that these scents can be so strong that it makes you feel like you’re re-living a certain moment in time even though all you’re doing is experiencing a certain scent.