Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. Hanns Hatt and the smell of a woman

Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. Hanns Hatt (actually, Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. Med. Habil. Hanns Hatt) of the Department of Cell Physiology at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, is in hot pursuit of understanding — understanding, especially, the many and varied roles played by olfaction. In a word: smell. Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. Hatt’s home page lists a few of […]

Boar Taint Smells Different to Different People, Probably

What smells like boar taint to you might not smell like boar taint to other people, suggests this study: “How olfactory acuity affects the sensory assessment of boar fat: A proposal for quantification,” Johanna Trautmann, Jan Gertheiss, Michael Wicke, Daniel Mörlein [pictured here], Meat Science, Volume 98, Issue 2, October 2014, Pages 255–262. The authors, […]

A Quick Peanut Butter Test for Alzheimer’s Disease

Peanut butter again tempts researchers who seek medical insight: “A brief olfactory test for Alzheimer’s disease,” Jennifer J. Stamps, Linda M. Bartoshuk, Kenneth M. Heilman, Journal of the Neurological Sciences, vol. 333, 2013, pp. 19–24. (Thanks to investigator Holly Brothers for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, at the University of Florida, explain: “Methods. […]

Phantosmia as and in a weather forecaster, reportedly

Phantosmia — smelly hallucinations — and the weather unite, at long last, as subjects of a science report: “Phantosmia as a Meteorological Forecaster,” S. R. Aiello and A.R. Hirsch [pictured here], International Journal of Biometeorology, March 2013. the authors, at the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor and the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in […]