Explaining how the human sense of smell works has earned two American scientists the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Richard Axel of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Columbia University and Linda Buck of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have helped piece together every step in the process by which cells in the nose capture smelly compounds and transmit signals to the brain, which are perceived as distinct aromas.

The olfactory system is the first of our sensory systems that has been deciphered primarily using molecular techniques.