A team of scientists in Auckland and Germany have created a 3D computer model of the inside of the nasal cavity and part of the cranial cavity, basically, the cubbyhole where your brain is.
It is hoped the reconstruction of the human olfactory system, the part of the nervous system that gives you your sense of smell, will help develop treatments for diseases like Parkinsons and Alzheimers.
University of Auckland Professor Maurice Curtis told Checkpoint the first-of-its-kind reconstruction was "a fairly big deal".
"We don't have the equivalent three-dimensional reconstruction from other mammals, and so to do it first in humans ... is really quite special.
"Our 3D reconstruction gives you all of the microanatomy, all of the cells, and it shows you where the neurons would go that carry the sense of smell ... back into the brain.
The project began in 2018 and required his team from the University of Auckland Centre for Brain Research to dissect thousands of sections of the human olfactory system.
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