Understanding how our senses tell us about the world around us, or how the others compensate when one sense is lost to us, is far more complex. Our five senses, combined with our brain and the rest of the nervous system, give us clues about both what is safe, enjoyable, and comforting and what is dangerous, scary, and unpleasant. Without them, the world would be a far harder place to comprehend. -Science NetLinks

Types of Sensors from HowStuffWorks

In-Depth Scientific Look at the Senses

1. In your eyes, you have two different types of light sensors. One set of sensors, called the rods, senses light intensity and works well in low-light situations. The other type, called cones, can sense colors (and actually, there are three different types of cones for the three primary colors) and require fairly intense light to be activated.
2. In your inner ears, there are sound sensors. 
   Also in your ears are sensors that let you detect your orientation in the gravitational field -- they give you your sense of balance. 
3. In your skin, there are at least five different types of nerve endings: 
heat sensitive, cold sensitive, pain sensitive, itch sensitive, pressure sensitive 
4. ​In your nose, there are chemical sensors that give you your sense of smell. 
5. On the tongue, there are chemical receptors that give us our sense of taste. 
6. In your muscles and joints, there are sensors that tell you where the different parts of your body are and about the motion and tension of the muscles. These senses let us, for example, touch our index fingers together with our eyes shut. 
from HowStuffWorks Science

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Children's Literature

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Paul Andersen explains how we perceive our environment using our sensory system. He starts with a brief discussion of action potentials and the nervous system. He shows that we many more than five senses. He goes into more detail to show how humans smell, see and hear.

"Making Sense of the World, Several Senses at a Time"

Credit: © iStockphoto/ktsimage

"Our five senses–sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell–seem to operate independently, as five distinct modes of perceiving the world." Interesting article from Scientific American

Words to Know

Inner ear contains the spiral shaped organ of hearing
Middle Ear cavity in temporal bone connects with the pharynx by the eustachian tube- which equalixes pressure in the middle ear with the outside atmosphere bones in the middle ear that transmits sound waves from the ear drum to the inner ear
Olfactory receptors hairs in upper part of nostril w/ neurons for smell
  *stimulated by chemicals dissolved in mucous
Taste buds 10,000 taste receptors widely scattered throughout the oral cavity
Kinesthetic relating to the use of sense organs in your muscles and other body parts to feel the position and movements of your body
Perception the ability to notice something by seeing, hearing, smelling, etc.
Sense (noun) one of the natural abilities that most people have to see, hear, smell, taste, and feel things, known as the five senses
Sense (verb) to know about something through a natural ability or feeling, without being told

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