Sweet As Honey

Like alpha/omega pairings are really popular- but betas are awesome too! I'd love cuddles from a beta rn...

For clarification I do not consider myself an omegaverse lifestyle participant.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes covid, can only infect cells expressing a certain protein called ACE2

ACE2 is expressed widely in nasal cavity epithelial cells but not in olfactory sensory neurons. 

Seo et al. (2021) studied potential nasal targets for SARS-CoV-2 using golden hamsters as a model organism (commonly used as a proxy for humans in virology studies)

They found ACE2 expression in the main olfactory bulb epithelium (MOE, your “normal” nose organ) as well as the vomeronasal organ (VNO)

Several cell types in the VNO were able to be infected and they also found significant inflammatory activity (macrophage activation, apoptotic cells, etc) 

The specifics of how covid actually causes dysosmia are not known for sure but epithelial damage by local inflammatory immune responses likely plays a role, especially because sensory neurons themselves are not affected (Bilinska, & Butowt, 2020). Therefore I would suggest a potential similar effect of VNO dysfunction as we see in the main olfactory bulb

From Seo et al.: “Considering the function of the VNO, infection and subsequent pathologic changes may affect the behavior of Syrian hamsters”

If it stands to reason that omegaverse individuals have functioning VNOs similar to members of the animal kingdom, then it is more than reasonable to conclude that covid may cause them to lose not only their main olfactory function, but also their VNO function as well

 References: (1) (2)

This needs to be everywhere in fandoms

Squishy backpacks for pups who are real anxious and wishing to go back to the nest at home

Chewlery!! I bet chewing is a really common stim in a/b/o. Pups love to pick out cool looking chewies and show them off at school, but the teachers inevitably have to remind them all the time please don’t share oh god those have been in your mouth

I hc that pups present when their scents start to develop from a baby scent to something that starts to smell like them. Most present around 6-7 so kindies who get their scents think they’re big stuff

At this age most pups still find it hard to sleep without their parents nest, so before school parents scent a mini blanket and pillow in their backpack for naptime

Anyways, now I'm imagining an AU where the only a/b/o trope you use is the scenting and none of the designations or the werewolf biology. (So technically it's not an omegaverse AU anymore , just an AU where humans have advanced noses, but whatever.)

If humans ended up developing chemoperception that is just as nuanced and sophisticated (and maybe even more complex than) our visual perception, then that would definitely end up shaping our sociocultural evolution.

There should be museums that not only host the visual and auditory arts, but the "aromatic arts" as well. Chemists and perfumologists would have careers as aromatic artists. Museums would have "chemical reconstructions" of what certain historical figures or events would have smelled like.

And since the nose and the tongue are interrelated in our chemoperception, I would imagine that aroma museums would always have restaurants attached to them, and aroma exhibits would have accompanying menus where the flavor profiles would complement the aromatic arts. Food and aroma science can be lumped into an umbrella category of "the chemical arts."

If you're wondering why humans would end up evolving such a complicated chemoperception, then one hypothetical answer would be that our hominid ancestors could have lived in tumultuous times where an advanced chemoperception would have ensured the species' survival.

- Maybe it was an era of active volcanic activity, and sensitivity to chemicals in food and water was necessary for survival.

- Maybe the fungal, microbial, or plant life of the time was extremely hostile to mammalian life, so we had to evolve advanced chemoperception.

- If we accept the conjecture that cooking food, the dawn of our culinary history, was a pivotal step in our higher cerebral evolution, then an advanced chemoperception amidst a dangerous chemical environment would definitely be evolutionarily advantageous.