The science behind sight, taste, touch, and sound are lightyears beyond smell. Most cameras work better than human eyes, able to see spectrums of light invisible to us. Audio systems can hear wavelengths our ears can’t. Robots can now use an artificial sense of touch to carefully peel a grape. Some artificial flavorings are tastier than the real thing. Similar efforts to capture olfactory sensory experiences have fallen short because the physics behind how our brains smell isn’t as straightforward as other senses. Sight is photons, sound is compressed air. Scent is something else entirely. Roughly 400 receptor types can recognize millions of scents, combining them to create an overall smell.
— Read more in Digital Olfaction Brings Scent Systems Into the 21st Century at Propmodo.
This is a really informative article, albeit marred by terrible English writing (comma splices and a lot of subject-verb agreement problems). Sad this guy is a professional journalist (of some sort). There are some creepy things–new devices that track scent perception by incorporating living cells! Some are perhaps positive things for people in our group–creating ways of isolating scent environments so as to allow those with sensitivity to be shielded from those who offend them. The gobsmacking thing is the sheer amount of money now being spent on various scent industries! Thanks for posting, Robin.
I meant to mention this, too: when I was in the recovery room after my last surgery, I told the nurse I was experiencing nausea. I know from the previous times that they can give you a pill to control that. And they did give me a pill, but they also did something new (to me): they brought me a small plastic thing, like a sort of open case, containing a strong peppermint wax tablet, and fastened it onto my gown just on my neck below my nose. Apparently, the thought is that inhaling the peppermint odor also helps prevent or reduce nausea. It did help!
Agree that some of the applications are not necessarily positive…but it really is all interesting.
Oh, that’s fascinating about the peppermint!