01 · What circulates
Volatiles and volatilomes
What is a volatile compound? What does a volatilome reveal at a given moment? How does it differ from a smell or an essential oil?
Open this dossierThe science
Scientific reference points, one link at a time.
Sensosphere connects many fields. You do not need to cover everything at once. Choose the question that draws you and move forward at your own pace.
Each dossier starts from a simple situation, introduces the useful scientific terms and sets out the limits of what we can claim.
The starting question
Does what escapes our senses also escape reality?
Our senses open a window onto the world, but they do not show all of it. Science seeks precisely to explore what cannot be perceived immediately, without turning the unknown into certainty.
Start with this questionA suggested route
Follow the thread, while remaining free to choose.
The route starts from what escapes our senses, follows what circulates and transforms, then moves on to microbiomes, perception, receptors and the questions that remain open.
- 00At the edges of the perceptibleThe limits of our senses and of our evidence
- 01Volatiles and volatilomesWhat circulates
- 02Chemical ecology and the planetWhen a trace can become a signal
- 03Microbiomes and holobiontsWhat lives with us
- 04Body, perception and contextWhat becomes an experience
- 05Olfactory receptorsWhat detects
- 06Living questionsWhat remains to be examined
Choose freely
Where would you like to begin?
02 · What connects
Chemical ecology and the planet
When is a molecule a trace, a cue or a signal? How do these flows reach the atmosphere?
Open this dossier03 · What lives with us
Microbiomes and holobionts
What is the difference between microorganisms and a microbiome? Why does a plant, an animal or a human never truly live alone?
Open this dossier04 · What is lived
Body, perception and context
Why can the same smell or the same situation be experienced differently? How do the body, memory and context play a part?
Open this dossier05 · What detects
Olfactory receptors
How are odorant molecules detected in the nose? What do we know about olfactory receptors present in other tissues?
Open this dossier06 · What remains open
Living questions
What do we already know? What remains a hypothesis? Which questions could be studied with other disciplines?
Browse the questionsGoing to the sources
Some key researchers and texts.
These works do not form a single theory. Each sheds light on part of the map: olfaction, symbioses, network evolution, volatile compounds or the Earth system. The articles suggested are entry points, not an exhaustive bibliography.
Molecular olfaction
Hanns Hatt
His work sheds light on human olfactory detection and the study of olfactory receptors expressed in various tissues.
Read a review on ectopic olfactory receptors ↗
See the Olfactory receptors dossier →Microbial volatiles
Laure Weisskopf
Her research focuses in particular on interactions between plants and microorganisms and on the effects of volatile compounds produced by bacteria.
Discover a publication on bacterial volatiles ↗
See the Chemical ecology dossier →Symbioses and endosymbiosis
Marc-André Selosse · Lynn Margulis
Marc-André Selosse studies symbioses and the microorganisms associated with plants. Lynn Margulis played a major role in the history of the endosymbiotic theory explaining the origin of certain cell organelles.
Read Selosse on symbiotic microorganisms ↗
Find Margulis’s historic article ↗
Network evolution
Éric Bapteste
His work examines how gene transfers, symbioses and other interactions add links to tree-like lines of descent — links that can be studied as networks.
Read a proposal for a dynamic network of life ↗
See the Microbiomes and holobionts dossier →Gaia and the Earth system
James Lovelock · Tim Lenton
Lovelock formulated the Gaia hypothesis as a historical proposal on the feedbacks between living organisms and their environment. Lenton re-examined it in the light of evolution and Earth system science.
Read Lovelock’s historic article ↗
Read Lenton on Gaia and natural selection ↗
Volatiles and global change
Josep Peñuelas
His work links biogenic volatile emissions to ecological interactions, the atmosphere and environmental change.
Read a review on BVOCs and global change ↗
See the Chemical ecology and the planet dossier →A single map
Three levels that respond to one another.
The dossiers separate the subjects to make them readable. Sensosphere then places them back on a shared map.
Level 1
The network of life
Organisms, microbiomes, molecules and environments are caught up in reciprocal relationships.
Level 2
The body in interaction
The nervous, hormonal, immune, metabolic and microbial systems all contribute to our response.
Level 3
The lived world
Perception, emotions, memory, learning, beliefs and relationships contribute to the meaning of experience.
Another way of learning
Experience it before going deeper.
The Journey of the Volatilome offers a way into these relationships through storytelling, images, olfaction and dialogue.