How does smell affect taste? Flavor is based on a combination of factors. These factors include taste, odor, texture and temperature. The main focus of the following experiment is food flavor based on the combination of smell and taste. Have you ever held your nose while eating and noticed you couldn't taste your food? In this report, you will learn how the nose and tongue work together to create flavor. Your sense of smell and taste are very important in deciding the flavor of food. The tongue and nose influence each other more than you think. The nose is the origin of the sense of smell. There are two entrances that allow air to enter the nose, called nostrils. They are separated by a wall made up of bone and cartilage. The inside of the nose is covered with a sticky, moist substance called mucus. The mucus works with the hairs in the nose to collect dust and germs to protect the lungs. When the nose picks up an irritant that it needs to get rid of immediately, it exhales forcefully at up to 100 mph. This is called a sneeze. Further down the nose are even smaller hairs called cilia that you can only see under a microscope. They clear mucus from the sinuses and back of the nose. The nose can smell thanks to the ten million olfactory receptors that make up the olfactory epithelium (olfactory system). The olfactory epithelium is located approximately 7 cm high inside the nose. These receptors can differentiate between more than 10,000 different odors. The receptors send signals to the olfactory bulb. These signals then travel to the brain which interprets what you sense by combining the different signals from the receptors. Many parts of the brain are affected by these signals. The majority of affected brain areas are found in the limbic system. The limbic system is associated with emotional behavior, long-term memory, and olfaction. Your sense of smell is the first and most primitive sense you use at birth. This helps newborns recognize their parents. Our sense of smell is closely linked to our memories formed in our