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Good smells

Posted by Robin on 16 April 2010 17 Comments

Using a device called an eNose, a group of Israeli neurobiologists were able to rank smells by pleasantness. They tested dozens of smells on people in Israel and Ethiopia (two very different cultural groups) in order to determine whether these good smells were universal or culturally specific. What they found was that many smells are universally rated as good or bad.

— Top ranked scents include lime and grapefruit. Read more at Scientists Discover Five Things That Smell Good To Nearly Everyone. Thanks to Jane for the link!

Filed Under: perfume in the news
Tagged With: olfaction

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17 Comments

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  1. Andrea D says:
    16 April 2010 at 11:33 am

    It’s kind of weird to me that they thought Israeli and Ethiopian cultures were far enough away from each other to constitute culturally diverse testing. I mean, sure, the cultures are different, but I would have thought that maybe Ethiopia and Japan would be a better choice for comparison. Am I biased by the fact that I know Japan to be a strange market for fragrances, in that they only seem to like clean-smeling perfumes?

    Also, I love the smell of vinegar, so I would have been a serious problem in this study.

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    • Robin says:
      16 April 2010 at 11:51 am

      I thought the same…really, you’d probably have to have a pretty big travel budget to do a valid study like this. And they probably didn’t.

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    • klytaemnestra says:
      16 April 2010 at 12:08 pm

      Yeah, I mean they are different cultures … and at the same time they’re close enough together geographically that there are going to be a lot of familiar similar smells. Just seems strange that this is considered a culturally diverse experiment.

      I have some incense from Jerusalem and it smells almost exactly like Tauer L’Air du desert marocain.

      I just figure if something smells pleasant in general it’s going to smell pleasant to the vast majority of people asked. Sure everyone has those weird smells they like that some would consider universally unpleasant and vice versa, however this list is not surprising in the least.

      Who doesn’t like fresh citrus? Even if it’s not their cup of tea where perfume is concerned, I doubt many people smell citrus fruit and consider the smell horribly offensive.

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      • klytaemnestra says:
        16 April 2010 at 12:33 pm

        And … you know what? I completely read Ethiopia and thought Morocco. I have no idea. I’m wearing the aforementioned perfume so I must have Morocco on the brain.

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    • Joe says:
      16 April 2010 at 5:49 pm

      I immediately thought the same thing, Andrea, about Israelis & Ethiopians not being dissimilar enough to make sweeping conclusions about the “universality” of smell perception.

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  2. Valentine says:
    16 April 2010 at 1:07 pm

    I read the linked article and have to say my favorite part is the comments at the bottom, which are amusing and raise valid points. There do seem to be some popular scents missing from the list, and extracts do smell differently, usually more harsh perhaps is the world, than the real thing. I’m actually surprised by how many perfume-centered comments are present on the link, since there is a different between “smells I find pleasant” and “smells I’d like lingering on my body.” There are so many appeals for the perfume industry to take note, when really there are already fruity, citrusy frags on the mass market.

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    • Robin says:
      16 April 2010 at 1:50 pm

      Thanks — I hadn’t even noticed the comments, and they’re fun!

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    • LeBeau says:
      16 April 2010 at 11:33 pm

      I agree that there are scents that I like the smell of, but would not enjoy smelling like-such as bacon. I also suspect that while bacon may smell good to me (an American) it may smell horrid to say someone who was brought up with the belief that a pork product was unclean (or Holy or whatever)…and I really love the smell of grapefruit, but on my skin, not so much.
      Seems like one would want to test many different cultures, well at least more than 2, to get a more realistic results to their testing. Perhaps they ran out of testing dollars?

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  3. Bela says:
    16 April 2010 at 7:13 pm

    The Israeli culture is *totally* different from that of Ethiopia. Most Israelis are Jews of (Eastern or Southern) European origin whereas Ethiopians are Christian or Muslim black Africans. I have relatives in Israel: they have nothing much in common with Ethiopians.

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    • Robin says:
      17 April 2010 at 11:41 am

      To my mind, that’s not the issue…it just isn’t enough to take 2 random countries and make the broad statement that you’ve found a universally appealing scent.

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  4. Winifrieda says:
    16 April 2010 at 7:33 pm

    Looks way too lightweight to be remotely ‘scientific’ to me…and the empirical knowledge gained from centuries of human use of fragrance would be a much more valid study…and it looks like it was skewed towards food odours, so what about bacon? Surely you would go to the expertise of the professionals in the perfume industry if you were seriously studying odour. The big companies would have libraries of literature on human response to odour.
    Sorry, got my pedantic hat on this morning, but pop science tends to annoy me!

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    • Robin says:
      17 April 2010 at 11:42 am

      It’s always fun to read these stories (for me, anyway), but yeah, they’re rarely done in such a way as to make them valid.

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  5. LaMaroc says:
    17 April 2010 at 1:59 pm

    I think southeast Asia would be the most interesting comparison for any Western culture. From my experience watching Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (religiously) and Andrew Zimmern (sporadically), an area of the world that thrives on durian, bird’s nest soup, balut (fertilized duck egg), varieties of cooked insects & larvae – I am most curious to see a comarison with any Western culture’s ideas of what are considered good and bad smells.

    See these two links I found for two sets of “7 Asian ‘Delicacies’ You Probably Can’t Stomach” for reference:
    http://blog.hotelclub.com/7-asian-delicacies-you-probably-couldnt-stomach/
    http://blog.hotelclub.com/7-more-asian-delicacies/

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    • Robin says:
      17 April 2010 at 2:45 pm

      Ack. Looked at the first article, don’t know if I can stand to look at the 2nd! Thanks for the cool links.

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      • boojum says:
        17 April 2010 at 8:03 pm

        Sounds like you’d have as much trouble living with my husband as I sometimes do. I came home one night to learn that he had fed my children blood pancakes. And another time, roasted, flavored WHOLE crickets. I’ve threatened to make the entire family go vegan.

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        • Robin says:
          17 April 2010 at 9:19 pm

          Oh.my. Yes, I’d have trouble, LOL!

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        • LaMaroc says:
          17 April 2010 at 10:55 pm

          Gewww! *turns green* He probably thinks eating bugs is vegan! lol

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