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Scientists Closer To Creating Artificial Noses
Scientists at MIT have moved closer to being able to create an artificial nose after finding a way to mass-produce smell receptors. The MIT RealNose project seeks to recreate the most complex and least-understood of the five senses: smell. The team plans to work with researchers around the world to develop a portable microfluidic device that can identify various smells, including diseases with unique odors, such as diabetes and certain cancers.
And to think I was hoping to come in here to see an article about Michael Jackson...
"Those who would sacrifice essential liberties for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - BenF
Most people don't realize just how important the olfactory senses are. They're responsible for taste, not just smell and people should be careful that they don't assume the new technology can replace it.
In short: you only get one nose, don't blow it.
The idea is they're trying to figure out how smell actually works. There're some crazy problems with figuring out how and why smell works, like the shape of the molecules coming into contact with the receptors, and why two completely different molecules can be interpreted as the same smell, and why two molecules of similar makeup can produce completely different smells. It's not just a matter of slapping some pads on the inside of a silicon nose.
I have nothing compelling to say
Does it really matter? Does not a nose by any other name still smell?
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I lost my sense of smell entirely for a couple of years. It has since returned, though not all that strongly. You don't realize what it's like unless it happens. Yeah, I could go into a barn and not be bothered and if my dog farted I didn't care, but I couldn't smell gas (the kind they sell you to heat up the stove), or anything burning, or sweat, or gasoline fumes (suggesting accompanying odorless CO), or spoilage in food that otherwise looked okay, or mildew, or that very special burning plastic stink of a hot CPU. Use your imagination for more 'exotic' issues.
It's damn dangerous to not have your sense of smell. I also lost interest in food. I couldn't understand at first why I needed more and more garlic until S.O. complained and I realized something was wrong. It sneaks up on you (just like fat!)
A couple of years later we were driving from Spokane to Seattle, a boring 300 mile trip in I-90, and my S.O. said, "You probaby can't tell this, but..."
"A skunk!" I said.
I've never been so happy to smell a skunk in my life! So I'd be happy with a plug-in replacement.
How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
Sort of related, I have no sense of smell, at all. I was probably close on 20 years old before that fact actually sunk in. I thought it was a sense that people learned to use, like learning to read and write, that I would figure it all out some time later in life. Not to be.
From a perspective of never having known smell, the idea of being able to do so is intriguing. At the very least it would mean I could definitively know whether I need to spend more on deodorant or less :-)
Oddly enough, I have had dreams where I can smell perfectly fine, I don't know how this state of mind compares with the real world experience though.
I'm quite positive it has made a huge difference to the way food tastes.
I can tell the difference between sweet, sour, and salty. If food doesn't fit into one of those categories then it doesn't have any taste, texture becomes far more important in that circumstance.
The end result is that people place me in the 'fussy' category.
Does holding my nose make any difference? None at all. :-)
I'm guessing a little, but I think when people have a cold they are pretty much experiencing what I do every day.