what does the olfactory bulb do in the brain
Olfactory bulb The olfactory bulb transmits smell information from the nose to the brain, and is thus necessary for a proper sense of smell. As a neural circuit, the glomerular layer receives direct input from afferent nerves, made up of the axons from approximately ten million olfactory receptor neurons in the olfactory mucosa, a region of the nasal cavity. The ends of the axons cluster in spherical structures known as glomeruli such that each glomerulus receives input primarily from olfactory receptor neurons that express the same olfactory receptor.The glomeruli layer of the olfactory bulb is the first level of synaptic processing.[1] The glomeruli layer represents a spatial odor map organized by chemical structure of odorants like functional group and carbon chain length. This spatial map is divided into zones and clusters, which represent similar glomeruli and therefore similar odors. One cluster in particular is associated with rank, spoiled smells which are represented by certain chemical characteristics. This classification may be evolutionary to help identify food that is no longer good to eat.