It is lavender-harvest time in Provence. Read about the festivities in the New York Times.
An older but still interesting article in Popular Science discusses how the army is using the sense of smell to train soldiers:
Olfaction could be key. A number of researchers believe that smell, more than any other sense, can powerfully and immediately trigger emotions, memories and states of arousal—all of which, when manipulated adeptly, can boost the sense of immersion and thus the quality of training in VR [Virtual Reality]. In short, smellier simulators could produce smarter soldiers…