[Adam]

Adam asked the Naked Scientists:

Hi Chris and the gang,

I was thinking the other day how animals / flies / fish can find their way by smell to their prey or to food etc. I was wondering if to them, especially any that are blind, if they interpret the olfactory information as something visual. i.e. can see a smell/taste?

The same question goes for birds that can fly by the Earth's magnetic field; can they actually see this?

I recall a couple of years ago you featured an article on people that could see sounds, taste words etc - Synaesthesia. One person saw green when you said Tuesday, and I'm sure a famous composer believed that you turned the lights down in an operatic theatre to see the lights of the music.

So if this sort of thing happens in some genetic disorders can it happen naturally in some organisms?

Hope you guys can help, and keep up the good work at the naked scientist.

Adam

What do you think?

[blakestyger]

My wife has synesthesia and you're right  - different things do have colours associated with them: "Tuesday is dark blue and Wednesday is a sort of whitish colour" she says.

The trouble with other creatures is this - How could we ever know what they were experiencing as we cannot communicate with them at this level?

Interesting thought though.  []