This month’s Smellizing Study of the Month is: “Smellizing Cookies and Salivating: A Focus on Olfactory Imagery,” Aradhna Krishna [pictured here], Maureen Morrin, and Eda Sayin, Journal of Consumer Research, epub 2014. The prolific Mary Ann Twist issued a press release about it: Fashion magazines come pre-loaded with scratch-and-sniff panels for perfume and aftershave, but what […]
Tag: smell
VR – Mysteries of the scent projector (part 2)
We recently profiled the work of the Yanagida Laboratory of Meijo university, Nagoya, Japan, where work is underway on a vortex ring scent projector to deliver accurately timed odours to participants in a virtual reality (VR) environment. But the projector (one of which is picture at right) had a drawback : “One of the problems is […]
VR – Mysteries of the scent projector (part 1)
For those in the VR (Virtual Reality) world, there’s an old problem, how can scents be reliably delivered to individuals in an audience at the right place and the right time? Although many attempts have been made – with varying degrees of success – it took until 2003 for the vortex ring scent canon to […]
‘Shoe-smell’ to control epilepsy – myth or reality?
Dr. Harinder Jaseja, who is Associate Professor of Physiology at the Gajra Raja Medical College, Gwalior, India, has undertaken one of the very few studies investigating the efficacy (or otherwise) of ‘shoe smell’ to control epileptic attacks. Out of a group of 32 epilepsy sufferers, 3 were given the opportunity to use the smelling shoe-smell […]
Strange: On the smell of Composition C-4
Strange and colleagues offer discouraging news in the hunt for a substitute for a mysterious substance: “On the Smell of Composition C-4,” William Kranz, Kelley Kitts, Nicholas Strange [pictured here —Nick Strange is now a graduate student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville], Joshua Cummins, Erica Lotspeich, John Goodpaster, Forensic Science International, epub December 24, […]
New brand of underwear: The newness smells suspicious
News reports in Britain and elsewhere tout a new British brand of underwear, named “Shreddies“, that uses a carbon filter to trap bad-smelling gasses. The manufacturer says the underwear is “award-winning“. This video compilation shows several recent TV accounts of it: But the basic product is not new, nor is it British. The original such […]
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. […]
Artifical Nose Progress
For some people, mention of the phrase ‘Artificial Nose’ would probably conjure up notions of the many types of electronic aroma sensors currently in use. Say, e.g. NOSE II But these are by no means the only type of ‘Artificial Nose’. Take, for example the artificial nasal cavity built by J. T. Kelly, A. K. […]
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 […]
If you want to smell like the Grand Canyon
If you want to spray yourself with a mist that might make you smell like part or all of the Grand Canyon, you can try using one of the products manufactured by Air Wick. The company advertises the products with this invitation (and also with videos): America’s national parks are a source of inspiration to all […]