smell

Why Your Armpits Smell So Bad

Why do armpits smell so bad? Well, those millions of bacteria have to live somewhere. Sweat and Odor There are two universally-accepted types of sweat glands. Eccrine Glands The most abundant of the sweat glands, eccrine are found on most of the body andsecrete a sweat that is: “A sterile, dilute electrolyte solution that contains…

Tech News Melissa - TodayIFoundOut.com

Our Ability To Smell Depends On Our Culture

Common wisdom holds that smell is the least important sense for our species. But that conclusion may be flawed because we’ve ignored non-Western cultures. New research on a small tribe in southern Thailand challenges that assumption. Scent-based memories are particularly powerful. For me, the strongest memories of comfort from my childhood come from my grandmother’s…

Biology Jason G. Goldman

Humans’ Sense of Smell is Far More Precise Than We Thought

There is an oft-referenced factoid, reproduced everywhere from websites to textbooks, that the human nose can distinguish between 10,000 smells. But a recent investigation has revealed this under-investigated figure to be off. Like way, way, way off. Photo Credit: talkingplant via flickr / CC The actual figure? “On the basis of the results of psychophysical…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Researchers discover a new sensory ability in humans

“The human sense of smell is far better at guiding us through our everyday lives than we give it credit for,” said cognitive neuroscientist Johan Lundström. He was referring to what he and a research team just discovered, which is that humans can actually tell how much fat is in their food just by smelling…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Science Confirms That Old People Really Do Have a Smell

Think back to when you were a child visiting your grandparent’s home. Do you recall a distinct scent when you walked through the door? Many people do and it turns out, it’s not just in your head. Gerontologist and author of A New Wrinkle: What I Learned from Older People Who Never Acted Their Age,…

Physics & Chemistry Deborah Honeycutt - TodayIFoundOut.com

Scientists Successfully “Erase” Fear Using Scent Therapy

Have you had trouble shaking that fear of snakes or dogs or spiders? Researchers from Northwestern University have developed a new technique to rechannel memories while subjects sleep—by blasting them with various odors. It’s like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in Smell-o-Vision. For the experiment, scientists conditioned patients to be afraid of a certain…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes

The human nose can sense 10 basic smells

We’ve got categories to describe our perceptions of taste, colors, and sounds. But things aren’t as clear-cut when it comes to our sense of smell. Looking to overcome this surprising limitation, a team of researchers have proposed a list of 10 basic smells. Indeed, we’re all set when it comes to describing the way our…

io9 George Dvorsky

Smell-O-Vision Might Actually Be Happening, But Who Even Knows Anymore

Doesn’t it seem like being able to smell a TV show would be undesirable a lot of the time? Alex Trebek’s cologne would be wafting around your grandma’s all through Easter dinner and then your house would smell like blood after the Game of Thrones premier. But you gotta give the people what they want,…

Television Lily Hay Newman

Scientists invent the perfect odor

We already have white noise, and now there an equivalent for smell. Scientists in Israel believe they’ve identified “olfactory white”, a blend of dozens of components that smells — well — totally neutral. They created olfactory white by taking a large number of unrelated molecules that smell wildly different, and combining them at the same…

io9 Tim Barribeau

A “White Smell” Could Hide The Most Repellant of Odours

Imagine eternally odorless public restrooms, or stink-free changing rooms. Amazingly, researchers claim to have discovered what they’re calling a “white smell”—an odor made up so many complex aromas that it’s neither pleasant or foul-smelling, in no way overwhelming, and could be the most effective air-freshener ever. Taking its name from the concept of white noise—sound…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

These diseases can be diagnosed by smell

It’s not hard to tell when you’ve walked into a room, or a house, in which a person is sick with with a flu or a bad cold. There’s an immediate smell of stale sweat, cough medicine, and human misery. But can it be done with other diseases? According to doctors, there are some diseases,…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

How the common cold and some genetic engineering restored mice’s sense of smell

Anosmia, the inability to smell, isn’t as well-known as blindness or deafness, but it still affects an estimated two million people in the US. A new breakthrough has cured anosmia in mice… and the human impact could be far greater. Researchers at the University of Michigan Medical School used a specially modified strain of the…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

What does space smell like?

Astronauts may not expose their nostrils to the vacuum of space, but folks who come back from space walks report that they’ve brought a very distinctive odor back with them. And the space stations have their own special (and not necessarily pleasant) scents, including perfume of the Mir Space Station, which is currently being bottled.…

io9 Lauren Davis

10 Limits to Human Perception … and How They Shape Your World

Every human has limits. You can only run so fast, jump so high, and go for so long without water. But what about restrictions upon our five senses, those tools that we use to perceive and understand our surroundings? Here are ten limitations on human perception that have a direct impact on how we understand…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Would You Trust an Electronic Nose App to Diagnose Your Ills?

Well this is cool. A professor of chemistry at Caltech, Nate Lewis, is developing something called sensory vapor technology, in essence is an electronic way to sniff out bombs and certain illnesses and even something like Anthrax, avoiding any of the risks such scenarios would pose to an actual human-flesh nose. The eNose is still…

Tech News Molly Oswaks

Worriers Have a Heightened Sense of Smell

Some people can pinpoint odors better than others—which can be both good or bad, depending on the source. But new research reveals that it’s people who are more anxious that have a heightened sense of smell. The study, published in Chemosensory Perception, looked into how anxiety was related to the ability to detect odor. Participants…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

The Stronger Food Smells, the Less You Eat

The smell of a favorite food can literally make your mouth water. But a new study suggests that the stronger a food smells, the less of it you’ll eat—so it might be time for dieters to reach for the cured fish and curry. The study, carried out by the Institute Food and Nutrition in The…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

The Real Reason You Hate the Smell of Sulfur

If you’ve ever visited Old Faithful and the other geysers at Yellowstone National Park, you’ve likely come away with two reactions. First, it’s one of the most captivating sights in all of nature. Second, the place stinks like rotting eggs. That noxious smell is because of the small amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas given off…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

We (literally) smell way better than Neanderthals did

This isn’t about odor — honestly, if the species that invented indoor plumbing doesn’t smell better, we’re in serious trouble. But we have a far better sense of smell than Neanderthals did, and that reveals some crucial differences in our brains. Markus Bastir and Antonio Rosas of the Spanish Natural Science Museum (CSIC) used high-tech…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The man who cut his finger on a chicken and smelled awful for five years

For all of you considering a job in the poultry industry, here’s an occupational hazard you might not have thought of. Back in 1991, a Welsh chicken dresser cut his finger on the job. This injury caused his finger to stink such that — according to his doctors — the scent “could be detected across…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar

Why Your Armpits Smell So Bad

Our Ability To Smell Depends On Our Culture

Humans’ Sense of Smell is Far More Precise Than We Thought

Researchers discover a new sensory ability in humans

Science Confirms That Old People Really Do Have a Smell

Scientists Successfully “Erase” Fear Using Scent Therapy

The human nose can sense 10 basic smells

Smell-O-Vision Might Actually Be Happening, But Who Even Knows Anymore

Scientists invent the perfect odor

A “White Smell” Could Hide The Most Repellant of Odours

These diseases can be diagnosed by smell

How the common cold and some genetic engineering restored mice’s sense of smell

What does space smell like?

10 Limits to Human Perception … and How They Shape Your World

Would You Trust an Electronic Nose App to Diagnose Your Ills?

Worriers Have a Heightened Sense of Smell

The Stronger Food Smells, the Less You Eat

The Real Reason You Hate the Smell of Sulfur

We (literally) smell way better than Neanderthals did

The man who cut his finger on a chicken and smelled awful for five years

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