Posted by Robin on 7 Comments
Preti is an expert on human odors, having studied them for more than 40 years. He has sniffed — both with machines and with his nose — breath, sweat and other secretions in search of answers about why we smell the way we do. This latest project seeks to answer a question others might have never thought to ask: Does ovarian cancer have a smell?
— That's George Preti, of the Monell Chemical Senses Center. Read more at What Does Cancer Smell Like? at the New York Times. Hat tip to HemlockSillage!
Posted by Robin on 12 Comments
Recreational marijuana is legal in Colorado. But that doesn't mean residents want the air to smell like a pot rally...And that's where licensed smell investigator Ben Siller comes in. A member of Denver's Department of Environmental Health, he's trained to use an olfactometer to determine if people are breaking laws that protect the purity of Denver's air.
— Read more at Denver's Smell-O-Scope Targets Marijuana's Skunky Scent at NPR. Plus, read more about the Nasal Ranger Field Olfactometer here.
Posted by Robin on 2 Comments
It might seem that the range of scents humans can detect is infinite, but scientists have managed to sort them all into 10 basic categories, ranging from peppermint to pungent.
The classifications are meant to be the olfactory equivalent of the five basic tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami).
— From Humans can sniff out 10 basic odors, scientists say at the LA Times. Hat tip to Aparatchick!
Posted by Robin on 4 Comments
A controversial theory that the way we smell involves a quantum physics effect has received a boost, following experiments with human subjects.
It challenges the notion that our sense of smell depends only on the shapes of molecules we sniff in the air.
— Read more at 'Quantum smell' idea gains ground at BBC News.
Posted by Robin on 5 Comments
You might not be able to pick your fingerprint out of an inky lineup, but your brain knows what you smell like. For the first time, scientists have shown that people recognize their own scent based on their particular combination of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins, molecules similar to those used by animals to choose their mates.
— Got that? Read the whole thing at How People Smell Themselves at Wired. Hat tip to Jessica!