A lavender field is less a view than a device. Rows of purple spikes push volatile compounds into the air, including linalool and linalyl acetate, which enter the nose and bind to receptors lining the olfactory epithelium. Those receptors fire directly into the olfactory bulb, a brain structure wired with unusually short hops to the amygdala and hippocampus, regions that tag threat and store emoti...More