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The olfactory epithelium of a mouse is curled up like scrolls inside his nose. Smell is high-dimensional, has no notion of distance — how far is the smell of sweet from the smell of vapor? For each arbitrary shape, an arbitrary sensation; the Moon has a smell, though it has never been part of your evolutionary past. Researchers once argued about the cortex that stood right above the mouse’s nose; some said it was for smell, some said it was for fear. The argument ended after they realized that, to a mouse, they are one and the same: their entire world is encoded in smell. The cortex is a sheet 5 microns thick. Along the perpendicular axis, neurons receive input from the same part of the brain and respond to the same property. Neuroscientists envision the cortex as a packing of{" "} cortical columns. Make no mistake, the term "cortical column" is more symbolic than concrete. You will not find discrete cylinders of neurons when you cut up a brain, nor will you find functional boundaries

--> --> Light cortical columns olfactory topography cochlea I drew some of my favorite things in neuroscience. The olfactory epithelium of a mouse is curled up like scrolls inside his nose. Smell is high-dimensional, has no notion of distance — how far is the smell of sweet from the smell of vapor? For each arbitrary shape, an arbitrary sensation; the Moon has a smell, though it has never been part of your evolutionary past. Researchers once argued about the cortex that stood right above the mouse’s nose; some said it was for smell, some said it was for fear. The argument ended after they real

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